The Darkness Inside
by Apply Water Directly to Burn
Summary: "We all have trials to face, hurdles to overcome. Yours is just a bit more difficult than others." The story of a Guardian who is thrown far away from his Light and Traveler, with nothing more than the armor on his back and weapons in his hand. Can he survive without a Ghost and with Darkness infesting his body? And what's up with these 'Faunus' anyway?
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:**_

 _ **So… hello again, I guess.**_

 _ **I know, it's been a while (about a year, in fact), and this is just a rewrite chapter, instead of a new one… but it's been a hell of a time on my end. I'm not going into detail, as it's fairly personal, but most of my recent issues and my writer's block have cleared up, and the new releases in Destiny 2 have inspired me to write again, with a better plot in mind.**_

 _ **For better or worse, this will be the last time I rewrite my Destiny/RWBY crossover story. So, strap in and enjoy this, hopefully better, version of The Darkness Inside. The main plot of the RWBY part will be the same, but the first part of the story will be different, in that he has no idea how he arrived in Remnant and no idea how to return. He's a bit less angsty too, since most Guardians aren't afraid to sacrifice their feelings or their lives for their mission. Also, yes, I did rip off the Forsaken opening, why do you ask? With all that said, let's get on to the story.**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I own a digital copy of Destiny and Destiny 2, and have access to a Youtube playlist of RWBY. This does not, however, mean that I own the franchises. Unfortunately. There'd be more evil guardian subclasses and competent villains if I did.**_

 **-{}-**

 **{DRIFTER'S SHACK}**

 **{UNKNOWN SPACE}**

 **-{}-**

The shattered pieces of Ghost hit the dirt like simple debris, not the precious friend they once were, and I felt a tremor run through me and the area around as his Light vanished in one last burst. I knew the Vanguard would be mobilizing, but I also knew that they would get here far too late to do anything to help.

I glared at the Drifter's back, hand held to my bleeding side and grunting in pain as I tried to move. He chuckled, that dark laugh of his only pissing me off more, before turning back to me and pointing the Thorn at my head.

"You know, _snitch_ , you really should've expected this. Oh, don't give me that look Guardian, it's not like you didn't know this was coming. Unless…" he chuckled again, "Oh, by the Nine, you actually didn't expect this?! Did you really think I'd just be okay with you spying on me, and trying to _kill me_ for that idiot Aunor? Hell, don't get me started on you playing both sides with me and the 'Man With the Golden Gun'."

I growled, the hole in my neck preventing me from doing much more, and he held up his hand. "No, no, I'm not done yet. Seriously, how naïve can you be snitch? I _told_ you, when you sided against me, that we were enemies. And you're only just now realizing that? You're only _now_ realizing that I was against you this entire time? You're hilarious kid!"

My hand slowly stretched to my side, my fingers shaking as they gripped the handle of the Last Word, and the Drifter noticed. He narrowed his eyes, moving his aim to my hand and firing. The poisoned thorn pierced my hand, and I screamed, the sound coming out as more of a gurgle due to the blood filling my throat… but I managed to throw the magnetic grenade in my other hand at the Drifter.

He looked surprised, probably due to my ability to still use any of my Light after what he did to me, but a Taken Goblin appeared in front of him, taking the grenade instead. It exploded, and the Drifter smirked, looking back at my broken and battered form. "You know, I liked that little guy. Named him Georgie, he was the best little blocker you'd ever see… I think I'll take a page out of your book now, actually. You remember a while back, when Cayde died? How you hunted down everyone involved and put a bullet in their heads for revenge? That was inspiring, really brought a tear to my eye. It also gave me an idea. See, you didn't just shoot that bastard Crow the moment you saw him; no, you _saved_ the asshole, then you waited till he realized everything he did was for _nothing_. Then, and only then, did you shoot the bastard in the head. See, that's dedication right there, that's fucking sweet, _beautiful_ karma at work. I'm sure you're wondering where I'm going with this, right, snitch?"

The glare I was giving him answered that question, even as I felt myself slowly bleeding out. The problem with Guardians is that our bodies aren't actually _living_. Instead, we're just Light constructs, which is how we can be completely remade from the liquified puddles we become when hit by explosives or an Ultra's punch, and also how we can survive without food, water, or even air. That also means that, despite all the wounds I'm covered in, I'm still alive, because _the damn Drifter hadn't killed me yet_. And, to make matters worse, I couldn't even heal thanks to all the junk in my veins, from the Motes of Dark he had somehow shoved into me during our fight.

"Well, normally I wouldn't be talking to you about this before doing it, but eh, I feel like a good monologue today. See, I'm seeing a bit of a parallel between us: you've ruined my plans, exposed them to the Vanguard, but now I've got you on your knees- well, on your last legs, but same difference- and completely at my mercy. I can see by that stupid look on your face that you don't get it yet, so let me spell it out for you."

He shot my knee out, forcing me to fall to the ground on my knees. Then, he reached down to my side, pulling the Last Word out of the mangled remains of my right hand, and I finally understood. "Ah, yep, you got it! Let's play House, why don't we? I'll be Uldren Sov… and you can be Cayde-6."

He pointed Shin Malphur's hand cannon at me, and I sighed, looking to my side. There, surrounded by the shards of my Ghost, sat my broken Saint-14 Helm.

 _We had a good run, Ghost. You'd better have a seat saved for me, Cayde, I'll buy the first round. Sorry Shaxx, Zavala, we won't be having our weekly 'Titan Night' in the Crucible tomorrow. And I swear, Rahool, if I find out you screwed me over with that last engram on purpose…_

"You know, right about now would be where you say something suitably badass before I blow your brains out, but honestly, I think we're both a bit beyond that point. So, _Hero of the Red War_ , _Crota's End_ , _Kingslayer_ , _Rivensbane,_ et cetera… have you ever fought a _Dredgen_?"

 _ ***BANG***_

 **-{}-**

 **{KUO KUANA OUTSKIRTS}**

 **{MENAGERIE}**

 **-{}-**

I groaned as I came to, which in and of itself was a shocking event, seeing as how I'd died just a moment before. Oh, sure, coming back from death wasn't exactly new to me, but after losing my Ghost there was absolutely no way I should've woken at all.

Any other Guardian might have continued to lie there, either puzzling out their continued existence or grieving their losses, but I was a Titan. We charge head-first into battle, ignoring any and all distractions that didn't involve our objectives. So, with that thought in my mind, I slowly pushed myself off the ground, marveling at the lack of any pain or wounds that I definitely had before dying.

That was another thing to think about, but I put it aside and looked down at myself. My armor was almost in tatters, full of holes and tears from Taken and the Drifter, and my helmet was missing from my body entirely. The Ace of Spades was still hidden beneath my mark, and on my back sat my shotgun and auto rifle, but that was all I had on me besides my Glimmer and my Legendary Shards. And of course, the latter of which was all but useless now.

I sighed, looking at my surroundings to get my bearings. There, on the ground next to me, sat the shattered pieces of my Ghost, which I silently and reverently placed inside one of my mark's pockets, and my helmet, which I decided to simply hold until I could repair it. And then I looked out around me.

I'm not entirely sure what I had expected, but a luscious tropical forest was _certainly_ not it. After spending most of my second life trekking through overgrown Golden Age ruins, Vex constructs and underground Hive pits, I should've been ready for almost anything, and yet…

"What the hell do you mean?!" a shout rang throughout the woods, and I quickly hid behind a fallen tree, Ace finding its way into my hand as I fingered the trigger anxiously.

I had no real proof that whoever was talking was an enemy, of course, and the use of Tower Common for their words made it even less likely, but I didn't live… well, _survive_ , this long by taking chances. Without Ghost, and with my armor in tatters, taking chances was even less of an appealing option.

"Look, man, it's only a rumor, I'm not saying it's true. I'm just saying, people are talking. It's probably not true, but it makes you wonder…" a second voice responded, probably a friend or acquaintance of the first.

"Commander Taurus would never plot against Supreme Leader Khan! He owes everything to her, and every one of his actions is to better the cause!"

"Look, chill the fuck out dude! No need to go all zealot on me. I was just telling you what I've heard. You know, since you _missed_ the last meeting, too busy jerking off to that Schnee bitch."

The first voice growled, "I feel nothing but hate for Winter Schnee, and you fucking know it. Let's just go, we're supposed to meet up with _that woman_ here anyway."

A set of footsteps rang out, almost silent aside from a quiet _click_ sound every step. A third voice, this one feminine and likely belonging to those footsteps, spoke up: "Well, well, it's nice to see you two boys think so highly of me. _That woman_ , ooh it makes me feel all fuzzy inside."

Voice number two again, this time almost… nervous? "Uh, sorry, Serpent, it's just… well, you know how Kenny gets when he's impatient…"

Serpent? A callsign, most likely, though with my limited knowledge of this place it could easily be her real name, or even a title similar to 'Queen' or 'Kell'. Too many unknowns, not enough information.

I was snapped back out of my thoughts by the woman's next words, "Oh? Well, he won't need to be patient for much longer. After all, we've got an uninvited guest, don't we honey?"

The sound of safeties clicking off met my ears as I sighed, raising my hands above my head and slowly standing. Don't get me wrong, I could've put a round in all three of their skulls before they could squeeze off more than a couple shots, but for all I know they could be this place's Guardians, or some form of important leaders. Besides, there was no real reason for me to do so anyway, after all they hadn't actually fired at me or summoned some form of Traveler-forsaken demons. I was still a bit wary, but I decided to bury it behind my usual act.

"Why hello there!" I bellowed, channeling my inner Shaxx, "Would any of you three know the way to the nearest form of civilization?"

I felt rather proud of myself for nailing his voice, though I suppose nearly five years of listening to him scream at me in the Crucible might've ingrained it in my head. The looks of confusion and surprise on the two men were almost comical, but the woman's smirk worried me a bit. I gave them a few moments to think, before speaking up again.

"No? Hmm, I suppose I shall have to find it myself. It was nice to meet you all, but I must be going, many things to do-"

"And just where are you going?" the woman interrupted me, and I cursed internally, "After all, you were just eavesdropping on us a minute ago, how rude of you."

Fuck.

Shrugging, I dropped my act. "Is it too late to just apologize?"

Her tail whipped around behind her, as she- wait a minute. Looking between the three of them, I noticed something strange. The woman had a serpentine tail and small patches of scales on her visible skin (which was quite a lot of skin, with her… _revealing_ outfit), while the two men had some form of feline and canine ears. Idly, I wondered if the reason they argued so much was due to those traits, before snapping myself out of those thoughts.

Back to the snake lady, she drew a dagger from… somewhere behind her back, which was vaguely confusing as there weren't exactly any pockets on her dress, while the two men simply raised their assault rifles again.

The woman smirked, twirling her dagger as it- wait, did it just…? Yes, it just turned into a sidearm. That's… new.

"You know, for a human, you're pretty cute. Tell you what honey, hand over that nice fancy armor of yours and those weapons you've got, and I'll let you live. How's that sound?"

I'm almost certain she meant that to sound seductive, but it came out more threatening than anything. "Yeah, no, I'm good. Here's a counteroffer: I'll let you three leave, alive and with all your belongings, unless you attack me. If so, all bets are off. _How's that sound_?" I mocked, twirling the Ace of Spades in my hand as I waited for their response.

They didn't disappoint, dispensing with the pleasantries and simply opening fire. Luckily, I'd already expected that, and simply summoned a Towering Barricade… except I didn't. Instead, nothing happened at all, and I was forced to duck behind a tree as their rounds impacted directly against my armor.

 _What the hell?! Why isn't my Light working?!_

I heard the woman laugh, and annoyance rose within me. "You aren't doing so hot honey! I expected a bit more from you, but I suppose that gun of yours is just supposed to make up for something you lack."

She actually managed to sound vaguely disappointed, despite still unloading her firearm at the tree I hid behind. Unlike most of Earth's petrified woodlands, however, the thin palm tree I was behind provided almost no resistance as it was ripped to shreds, bullets passing through it and bouncing off my back armor as I curled into a ball.

 _Fuck! My shield isn't working, my Light's gone again, and I can't stand out in the open long enough to get a bead on them without them putting a round through my skull!_

Then I felt it.

And it was horrific.

A shield sprung up around me, seemingly stronger than any Light shield I had ever managed to produce before, and I could feel what amounted to my grenade, melee and barricade charging, but unlike any time I had used them before, I could instantly tell something was wrong.

After over five years of using the Traveler's blessing to fight the Minions of the Darkness, shocking, burning and disintegrating my way through enemies of all types and sizes, I had become what I always feared. The Darkness had taken over. My Light had vanished, only to be replaced by something… else.

But I was a Guardian. A Titan. I had ventured to the furthest reaches of the Solar System, clearing the way for humanity's return. I had torn through packs of Fallen scavengers, unholy pits of Hive creatures, armies of timeless Vex machines, legions of Cabal warriors, and clusters of Taken abominations. I had destroyed the blight of Oryx and his son, Crota, as well as wiped Atheon from time itself. I had broken the Red Legion across my knee, taking back the Last City and bringing about the Traveler's return. I had impressed Emperor Calus, the exiled leader of the Cabal, and bested him and his chosen in combat. I had defeated the Scorn, sending their sorry carcasses back to where they came, and killed Uldren Sov, avenging my best friend's death. I had raided the Dreaming City, killing the ahamkara Riven and saving some of the Queen's handmaidens from their Taken state. I had discovered the Black Armory for all Guardians, and entered the ruins of the Last City in order to destroy Insurrection Prime. I had impressed Shin Malphur and earned his weapon, the Last Word. I had purified the Thorn, and wielded it against the Darkness. I had fought in the Crucible and earned glory and valor, I had completed incredibly high-risk strikes for the Vanguard, and I had defeated Taken and Guardians alike in the Drifter's Gambit.

I was a Guardian, and I was Legend. And a little Darkness wouldn't change that.

Hearing my assailant's weapons stop firing, giving the telltale _click_ of empty clips, I spun out of cover and raised my hand cannon. The first shot slammed against the cat-eared man's overshield, the impact not breaking it but still enough to send him staggering. The second shot followed the first, hitting center mass hard enough for him to spit blood. The third shot met with no resistance, simply passing through his brain and exiting his skull in a shower of gore.

His friend screamed in rage and fear, firing at me with his reloaded rifle. Taking a page out of Cayde's book, I spun away from where I'd been standing, reloading Ace as I did. The gun's barrel was suddenly coated in flames as its special perk activated, and I squeezed off two more shots. They both slammed into the man, the first shot breaking his shield and the second passing through his heart. His body stood there for a moment, before registering his death and slumping to the ground.

I reloaded again, spinning Ace in my hand as I looked to the snake woman. She looked completely shocked, even flabbergasted, and I smirked. "You know, it's not too late to just leave…"

The shocked look faded quickly, before her free hand shot out towards me. It took me by surprise, and I was only barely able to dodge out of the way of a strange green whip that came out of her palm. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to completely avoid it, and it coiled around the Ace of Spades. My favorite weapon was pulled out of my hand, only to land in the woman's, who took this as her turn to smirk. "It's not too late to just give me the rest of your gear, cutie. Who knows, we might just have a use for you, and whoever made this beautiful thing…"

She ran her hand along Ace almost lovingly, and I saw red. How _dare_ this woman treat the only memento of my best friend like it was hers?! Grabbing my shotgun off my back, I growled out curses in Eliksni and leveled it at her. The sheer size of it brought her pause, and she took a step back in the face of the oversized weapon.

"Give me Ace back, _now_."

Clearly afraid, snake lady nodded and tossed my gun back to me. I caught it in my off hand, keeping the Legend of Acrius pointed her way. "Now, I'm going to need answers. Who the hell are you, and why are you out here?"

I could see her gain some confidence back, likely due to her feeling in control of the conversation now, though she still eyed my gun warily. "My name is Catie Greene, White Fang Infiltrator, codename Serpent, for obvious reasons," she chuckled, before continuing, "I was out here to meet with two other White Fang members, you know, the two you just murdered-"

Seeing that she was getting confident enough to snark back at me, I fired a round at the tree next to her. The veritable lightning bolt penetrated through the tree, hitting another two before scorching another and fizzling out. I pointed the barrel back at her head, my message clear, and her bravado quickly fled her.

"Okay, okay, look, I was here to meet with these two to discuss what to do about Ghira Belladonna's refusal to endorse the White Fang. We figured it's only a matter of time before he decides to denounce us publicly, and that would cause most of the population to turn against us. All we want to do is help them, why can't they see that?! Humans like you are the enemy, all you've done is oppress us, enslave us, and when we fight back, suddenly we're the bad guys! So we burned a few buildings, so we killed a few bigots, this is war! This is a war for our very rights, and no one realizes it! And you, you're just another damn human, throwing your weight around against us! What are you going to do, huh? Kill me? Put me in chains and force me to work in a damn Dust mine? Rape me?! Well fuck you! I'm not going to let you, you damn-"

She had been slowly but steadily marching forward towards me during her heartfelt speech, close enough to attempt a punch. I cut her off with a fist to the stomach, doubling her over and allowing me to grab the back of her head, slamming it into my raised knee rapidly, one, two, three times. I felt something give way under the impact, likely her shield, and I grappled her, throwing her over my shoulder and onto the ground.

The impact drove the wind out of her, but her tail still managed to whip out and wrap around my wrist. Its strength was surprising, as she managed to throw me away into a tree despite my heavy armor and build. The tree itself wasn't much of a problem, as my body simply plowed through it on its way to the ground. By the time I stood up again, she was on me, throwing a palm forward almost as fast as a Hunter's melee. Unfortunately for her, I was used to dodging around punches far faster and far stronger than hers, so catching her wrist in my hand wasn't difficult.

She had just enough time to realize what had happened before I slammed my other hand into her elbow, breaking her arm like a twig. She screamed in pain, and I took the opportunity to bury my fist in her torso again, directly in her diaphragm. I held back most of the force, so instead of pulping her insides it simply drove the air out of her lungs. Not letting up, I slammed my palm into her temple, crossing her eyes and probably rattling her brain inside her head. I repeated the move, and this time I could practically see the lights turn off inside her mind. Her eyes rolled back and she passed out almost instantly, leaving me there holding an unconscious woman.

 _Jeez, good thing Ira-3 isn't here, or she'd give me so much shit for this._

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why I didn't just shoot her too. It was probably because of her speech there, it was far too heartfelt and earnest to be a total lie, and I suppose I felt bad for her, especially if her accusations against humanity were true. Of course, that wasn't to say I forgave her or her idiot friends for attacking me with no justification, but there was no real reason to kill her since she really didn't pose much of a threat to me at this point.

I frowned when I thought about how _difficult_ it was not to kill her. Somehow, I was stronger than I had been before I came here, or everyone else was weaker than I was used to. I couldn't entirely blame the Darkness either, since I didn't enhance myself with it at all besides my shield while I fought. Come to think of it, besides the anger I felt (which could be explained away as my own emotions), there wasn't really any reason not to continue using-

No, no, that line of thinking led down the path to Dredgen Yor's mistake. I wasn't exactly a newbie Guardian who couldn't handle a simple Darkness zone, but there was no way that using the Darkness would end well for me. Unfortunately, something told me that I would have to eventually, if only to survive in this strange world.

Now, the only question is, just where in the hell am I supposed to go…?

 **-{}-**

 **{KUO KUANA CITY}**

 **{MENAGERIE}**

 **-{}-**

Luckily enough for me, there just so happened to be a city close enough for me to walk to, having seen the lights as soon as the sky had started to darken. Of course, the walk was still a lengthy one, and I was left alone with nothing but my thoughts. Most of which were not happy ones.

 _-My mind screamed as the Drifter shoved another Mote of Dark into me, the pain unable to be comprehended and why can't I feel my Light where is Ghost what is happening where is the Vanguard how could he do this to me am I going to die someone HELP ME-_

I shook my head vigorously to rid myself of the memory, sighing as I reached into my mark's pouches to feel Ghost's remains. As morbid as it may have been, I felt a certain sense of… comfort, as if he was still with me.

Heh, maybe I finally lost it, and this is all some fever dream I'm having while I convulse in the Drifter's cabin. Who even knows at this point?

One thing I did know, however, is that I knew nothing of this world. I was stuck here for the foreseeable future, without Ghost or even the Light to comfort me. Instead, I had the Darkness, the greatest enemy of the Traveler, Guardians and the Last City, and I had no choice but to continue using it if every fighter was on the same level as those three from before.

 _Damned if I do, damned if I don't… Maybe I'll get lucky and find a space-worthy craft and a starmap to point me back to Earth._

Unfortunately, judging by the _shattered moon_ in the sky, I was likely a bit farther away from the Sol System than I would've liked…

I was snapped out of my defeated thoughts, however, when a bright light broke through the treeline, and I caught my first glimpse of this world's civilization.

The city itself was incredible, nothing like anything I had seen before. It was certainly smaller than the Last City, at least from what I could see, and there were almost no skyscrapers whatsoever. The streets were also wider, and the buildings themselves were mostly kept in good repair, unlike the cramped streets and hastily constructed buildings of the Last City. All in all, it looked like what I imagined the smaller early Golden Age cities must have looked like, before we had lost everything.

I was still carrying the snake lady, having slung her over my shoulder to leave my right hand free, with my helmet strapped to my mark. Said hand was currently clenching Ace, ready to draw as soon as I ran into any trouble.

And run into trouble I did, as I heard voices from a nearby alleyway.

"Well, well, well, what have we here? A pretty kitty, all out on her lonesome in the middle of the night… Well, me and the boys will just have to show you some hospitality, won't we boys?"

Three 'yea's rang out, and I sighed. The Last City wasn't devoid of crime, of course, but it was far less common than this place, thanks to the looming threat of annihilation hanging over our heads. Here, I had already seen at least three counts of vandalism, a robbery, and now what sounded like a rape. I hadn't interfered before, seeing as how a bit of spray-painting wasn't exactly hurting anyone and the robber was caught by what must have been the local police, but I couldn't just stand back and hope someone else would deal with this one.

Stepping into the alley, my eyes immediately locked onto the four delinquents. All of them were clad in some form of leather jacket, with pants made of what I could only assume was denim. Two of them didn't have an undershirt on and had left the jacket open, but their physique, while muscular, wasn't really anything threatening. Honestly, Warlocks had better muscles than those fools.

The other two were what worried me. One of them stood a full head taller than even me, with the type of muscles you only got using steroids. Again, not too dangerous, but the truly _massive_ sledgehammer on his back was cause for concern. The apparent leader of the group, however, was the smallest of them all, thin and wiry, with some form of rifle on his back, though the drum magazine pointed towards it being an automatic weapon.

Their victim was a diminutive woman, perhaps five feet or so tall, with what appeared to be snow leopard ears on her head. She held a purse with the same design, and her dress was a deep red with sequins placed strategically to make it sparkle. She was also backed against a wall, shaking in fear as the lead delinquent stalked towards her.

He stopped, however, when I tapped him on the shoulder, having walked forward while he and his friends were distracted. He whirled around, his mouth already beginning to form what I imagine was a threat, before he saw me.

Now, I'm not one to brag, but I imagine I cut quite the imposing figure. I had left the woman who attacked me lying against the wall when I entered the alley, and at the moment I had my arms crossed over my chest, displaying my intricate gauntlets and pauldrons. The fact that my extremely heavy armor was tattered and ripped in places likely only added to the look, and the large guns on my back and heavy revolver on my hip showed that I was well-armed and dangerous.

"I can't believe what I'm seeing!" I bellowed, once again copying Shaxx and trying my best not to laugh my ass off while doing it, "By the Traveler, you four must be the most pathetic I've met here so far! If you don't have anything else to do other than prey upon defenseless girls, I suppose I'll have to entertain you boys myself. Now get lost, before I do something you'll regret."

I punctuated my threat by drawing my auto rifle, blue lights shining from it as I held it loosely in my arms. The four boys, for they were certainly young enough to be boys, took a collective step back before their leader found his bravado again.

"You think you're hot shit, just cause you've got some shitty armor? Well me and my boys have our Aura and Semblances, not to mention Huntsman weapons! Let's see how you do against those!"

Yet more things in this world I didn't understand. White Fang, animal humans, Aura, Semblances, Huntsmen… I'm starting to think this place is even weirder than my own. Don't even get me started on the miniscule amounts of Darkness I could sense, or the fact that all four of these idiots seemed to have some form of Light inside them…

My thoughts were cut off when the largest delinquent stomped closer, rearing back and preparing to swing his sledgehammer at me. Luckily, the move was so telegraphed that I was able to dodge it easily, allowing me to snap my rifle up and aim at his chest. My finger pressed the trigger, and lightning streaked between us.

The Hard Light poured its rounds into him, and thanks to his closeness to his fellow would-be criminals, many of the ricochet rounds bounced around, staggering them. The clip ran dry, and I frowned at the lack of damage I had done to them. Apparently, their shields were much stronger than the two men from earlier.

With a deft hand, I slotted in another magazine, the lights on my rifle changing to orange with the press of a button. The leader managed to use the short delay in order to close the distance, unslinging his weapon and belting out a war cry as he held the trigger down.

Like I had thought earlier, it was an automatic weapon. What I hadn't expected, however, was for it to be an automatic _shotgun_. The first few blasts caught me off guard, splashing against my Darkness shield and depleting it at an alarming rate. Fortunately, I caught my bearings and was able to spin out of the line of fire, shooting bolts of fire at the shotgun user to force him to take cover while I ducked behind some trashcans, grabbing their would-be victim and dragging her down with me.

She was still shaking in fear, but I didn't have time to console her, simply cycling Hard Light's damage to Void: the only Light type I hadn't tried against these guys yet. Using Arc was little better than a static shock through their shield, and Solar was even less effective. With the strange properties of Void, however, I had a bit more hope. Quickly slotting in another magazine, I poked my head out of cover.

The leader was rushing towards me, and I let out a calming breath before unleashing hell upon him. Purple streaks tore across the alleyway, hitting hard enough to stagger him and practically disintegrate his shield. The moment before I thought it would break, however, his body seemed to contort, somehow dodging the rest of the shots with seemingly no effort as he practically danced back to cover. I wasn't able to ponder on for long, as the large one raised his hammer above his head.

Having seen the same move from other Titans, and having used it myself, I decided discretion was the better part of valor and grabbed the leopard girl, tossing her gently onto a soft pile of trash bags and rolling to the side myself. Just in time too, as the pavement cracked and caved in along a straight path leading from the impact point to where we had been moments before.

Seeing the destruction that had been wrought in such a short amount of time, I decided to stop playing around. Reaching deep inside me, despite my misgivings, I shaped the Darkness into a Barricade to buy myself some time. The result was… interesting.

Every Titan worth their Ghost had access to the two Barricades, Tower and Rally. The first was a protective wall, the second was simple cover that allowed your Ghost enough protection to repeatedly transmat rounds into your gun as you fired over it. The barricade that appeared in front of me, however, was nothing like either of those. Instead of one large rectangular barrier, or a chest-high rampart, a circular… _void_ , for lack of a better term, formed before me. It was around the size of a Tower Barricade, with some form of decorative spikes lining the circumference. Inside, however, was simply _black_ , almost reminding me of a Taken Blight.

I almost smirked when I saw my four opponents begin to back away, before the shirtless idiots (now that I looked at them, they looked almost identical) decided to try their luck. Both of them pulled out matching weapons from behind their backs, some form of sword with what looked like an ammo belt hanging from it and a gun barrel fused to the dull side of the blade. Honestly, this world's weapon choices continued to astound me.

An almost silent _whirr_ brought me out of my thoughts, and I turned to see that the large one's sledgehammer had- _oh shit that's a minigun!_

I wasn't entirely certain what, if anything, my new barricade would do, but at this point I didn't have much choice other than to duck behind it and pray to the Traveler that I wasn't filled with whatever metal this world used for their bullets in the next few seconds. Surprisingly enough, my prayers were answered.

The veritable storm of bullets simply passed into the strange vortex, being swallowed by the darkness inside without a sound. I barely had any time to admire the new addition to my abilities, however, as only a few seconds later it _exploded_. Almost like a shaped charge, its energy was directed forward in

a cone shape, catching one of the two shirtless fools who strayed too close.

He _screamed_ in agony as his shield was torn apart and the rest of the blast caught his arm, scalding it and burning off a layer of skin. He passed out almost immediately, his… twin, I suppose, managing to catch him and dragging him out of the alleyway. I let them leave, too busy wondering just what the hell had happened.

The Darkness was… almost _too_ easy to manipulate. Not to mention the feeling of pleasure I received whenever I used it. Summoning that barricade and using my overshield were practically second nature, almost no different from when I used the Light. Even learning the Sentinel class after I regained my Light had been trickier than the Darkness was.

 _What the hell happened to me?_

I didn't have much time to ponder the ramifications of this, however, as I heard the familiar whirr of Sledgehammer's minigun spinning up. Ducking back behind my cover, I glanced over my options. Ace didn't have a high enough fire rate to battle against a minigun or LMG, and using Hard Light was just _asking_ to get shredded by said heavy weapon. Acrius could definitely do it, if I could get close enough, but I didn't see that happening anytime soon.

That left two options from what I could tell. Try to rush across the alley and shoot the big guy with Acrius, and hope I don't die, or try using the Darkness again.

One look at the woman hunkered down next to me, silently crying, and my decision was made for me. Holding out my hand, I focused the Darkness into it, trying to form some kind of orb or sphere. Strangely enough, it almost seemed to anticipate what I wanted, forming a rough sphere that seemed to pulsate with some form of inner light. I gave it a dubious look, unsure what exactly it would do, but the sound of bullets pinging off the steel scrap we were taking cover behind snapped me out of my doubts.

Taking a quick second to aim, I slung the grenade towards Sledgehammer. Years of Crucible, Iron Banner and Trials had honed my aim to astonishing levels, and the grenade slammed directly into the middle of his torso. Instead of exploding, like I had expected, it seared into his chest, ignoring his shields entirely. He screamed in pain, trying to brush it off his chest but only managing to burn his hands as well, before falling onto his rear on the ground as tears welled in his eyes. Moments later, it dissipated, leaving his burned torso on full display.

I looked around, trying to locate the last enemy, only to hear a high-pitched scream next to me. Drawing Ace of Spades from its place under my mark, I whirled around, my finger already halfway to pulling the trigger before I registered the sight in front of me.

The leader of the group had managed to sneak around me while I was dealing with his friend and had taken the leopard girl hostage. One hand held a knife to her throat, and the other pointed his shotgun at me. I wasn't worried about that last part, judging from the shaking of his arm the recoil of the gun would throw off his aim after the first shot, but I had no idea if the girl had the same form of shielding as the others or if she was like the citizens of the Last City. Judging by the fearful look in her eyes, it was most likely the latter.

No matter, this wasn't the first time I had dealt with a hostage situation. The Fallen were fond of using them in order to gain the upper hand against their enemies, as the scavengers were often too weak to win in a straight-up fight. I'd lost count of how many times residents of the EDZ were captured by them, and Hawthorne or Devrim had to call me in to take care of them. Long story short, those situations had prepared me well for this one.

The leader was running his mouth, probably gloating or threatening me, but I wasn't paying attention. Instead, I was watching the hand holding the knife. I could see he was struggling to keep the same position for so long, likely due to a lack of proper training and musculature, or simple tiredness. However, what mattered was that every few seconds, the knife would dip slightly away from the girl's neck for a moment. I carefully timed my shot, waiting for it to happen again, before pulling the trigger and slamming a round into his shoulder. This time his shield broke, likely still weak from earlier, and he staggered backwards, the knife in his hand drawing a thin line across his captive's neck, barely drawing blood. She dropped to the ground, scrambling away from him, and I raised Ace again, this time aiming at his head.

"This is the police! Hands where I can see them!"

Turning my head slightly, making sure to keep the leader in my sights, I took in the appearance of the men who had just showed up. Several vehicles of some kind sat behind them, similar to pre-Golden Age cars with flashing lights installed on them. The men themselves were all in uniform with weapons holstered on their waist, though some had already drawn them and were standing at the ready. Quickly processing all of this information, as well as the relieved look on the leopard girl's face, I concluded that these must be something similar to the old Pilgrim Guard, the peacekeepers of the Last City.

Carefully holstering my weapon, I raised my hands above my head, making sure my Darkness shield was still intact. Just because these men appeared to be the guards of this city didn't mean I was going to put my life at risk, especially now that… now that it was my last one.

The leader of the delinquents tried to make a run for it, but I tripped him with a quick kick, slamming him back into the ground. Suddenly, a lot more weapons had been drawn and aimed my way, and I froze, taking care not to seem aggressive lest they blow me away.

"You in the armor, drop your weapons on the ground and kick them over here! You're all under arrest for disturbing the peace and assault with deadly weapons!"

They slapped a pair of weak metal cuffs on my wrists, and I had to stop myself from scoffing. They thought _these_ could hold me? Hell, these couldn't stop a Warlock from snapping them in two like a twig, let alone a Titan! But, I held my tongue, simply doing as I was told and entering the vehicle when prompted, ignoring the officers reading off my rights as I did so.

Man, this was such a strange world.

 **-{}-**

 **{KUO KUANA POLICE DEPARTMENT}**

 **{MENAGERIE}**

 **-{}-**

"So, do you know why you're in here son?"

The officer across from me was likely supposed to intimidate me. Easily over six feet tall, with a build that even Shaxx would appreciate and what appeared to be ram horns on his head, he cut an imposing figure. Of course, he couldn't compare to the likes of Atheon, Crota, Skolas, or the plethora of other Ultras and Majors I had fought, so said strategy was pretty ineffective against me. Didn't stop him from trying though.

Realizing he was waiting for an answer, I sighed. "Yes, officer."

"Good, that makes this easier. Now, what, _exactly_ , was a human doing in an alleyway, surrounded by two heavily injured delinquents, an unconscious woman, and a terrified girl?"

Oh, right, I forgot about that 'White Fang' woman. Whoops. "I was preventing a rape, sir."

"Whose? Yours? Because I highly doubt that."

I held my tongue, trying to ignore the man's accusing tone. Something told me that these animal humans were extremely averse to normal ones, for reasons beyond my knowledge at the moment. "No, sir. I was preventing the rape of the 'terrified girl' you mentioned. She can confirm my story, if needed."

"Hmm, I think I'll ask her then. If I find out you were lying to me, boy, you'll wish I had just shot you now."

And with that, he had left, leaving me to sit and stare at the walls in boredom. They had taken my weapons and helmet, though they had left me with my armor. I had been in worse situations before, however: from the moment I was first rezzed, armed with a run-down assault rifle and covered in the flimsiest armor I'd ever worn, I had faced death over and over again, several times with the threat of it being my last. I had seen many good Guardians, both friends and strangers, perish on missions with no chance of success, and had lost even more during the Red War. But never had I been in this situation, completely without my Ghost and with strange energy flowing through me.

Right as my mind began to descend into grief again, I heard voices outside the door. "You say you can't find any records of him?"

"Yes, sir," the officer who had spoken to me responded to the first voice.

"Strange. According to the cameras, and the witness reports, he was in fact only intervening to help. But, that strange rifle he used, and not to mention those abilities, I've never seen anything like them. No Dust weapon is that powerful, and those purple shots were obviously something other than Gravity Dust. And that strange vortex he summoned, along with the strange orb that ignored Aura… no Semblance ever recorded has manifested such a robust and powerful array of abilities," the first voice rumbled deeply in thought.

"Actually sir," the officer again, "I believe it to be some form of dimensional manipulation. Possibly. It would explain the vortex, as well as the ability to ignore Aura, as if either the Aura or the attack was not entirely in this plane of existence. Though, what kind of character would produce such a thing is a question I can't answer."

"Dimensional manipulation… Ozpin would likely be interested in that. I wonder if there's a legend about such an ability…"

"A… legend, sir?"

"Oh, nothing, forget I said anything. What is your verdict on this young man?" the unknown voice sounded serious, almost as if a decision was depending on this answer.

"Well, despite being a human, he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Of course, whatever personality traits would produce such a Semblance worries me, especially since I can't tell if they would be good or bad, but someone who would go out of their way to prevent the rape of a young woman can't be entirely evil. Just, be careful with him, Mr. Belladonna."

The strange voice chuckled, "I've told you before Jen, call me Ghira. I think I'll have a chat with our mysterious young man. You go check on Ms. Snow, see if she's doing okay after her… experience."

"As you wish."

I heard one set of footsteps patter off into the distance, followed by the door opening and admitting a man inside. And holy Traveler, this was a man indeed. Even bigger than the officer from before, and with arms as big around as my head, he was quite impressive. He didn't seem to have any animal traits, though they may have simply been under his clothes or something like retractable claws, and he was sporting a majestic beard that made me a bit jealous that he could grow facial hair and I couldn't. Unfortunately, as our bodies are mainly made of and supported by Light, we didn't sweat, grow hair, age in any way, or anything else that normal humans do, which had led to many citizens of the Last City seeing us as undead, barely any better than the Darkness we fought against.

But that was neither here nor there, and right now I was more interested in what this giant of a man had to say. "Can I help you, sir?"

He looked startled for a second, likely expecting me to ask something else, before chuckling. "Yes, young man. I believe you can," he checked over a clipboard he was holding, before continuing, "My name is Ghira Belladonna, the mayor of Kuo Kuana, and I'd like to ask you a few questions. It says here that your name is Jaune Arc. We haven't managed to find any information on you other than that, so would you mind telling me about yourself?"

Fair enough. I didn't exist here, so it was understandable that they wished to learn more about the supersoldier who simply appeared in their world. Of course, from what I had observed, these people did not have the Traveler's Light, despite having something similar, and so likely had no knowledge of the Darkness, Ghosts, and the Sol System in its entirety. So, time to twist some facts to fit this world's reality.

"Well, as you just said, my name is Jaune Arc. I was born in Old Russia, in a large settlement far from here. From birth, I was trained to be a Guardian, a Titan specifically. As a Titan, I protected the city, and led strikes into the wilderness around in order to kill threats to the city. One day, a little over a year ago, we were attacked by a group of raiders known as the Cabal, who flew over our walls and wreaked havoc inside, killing many citizens and Guardians alike," I couldn't keep the emotion out of my voice at this. Even if the story was modified, the Red War was still a terrible wakeup call for all of us and losing so many of my friends still hurt to this day.

"I'm… sorry, Mr. Arc," Ghira sounded genuinely apologetic, but I shook my head and continued the story.

"We managed to take the city back from the Cabal, and we used the next few months to rebuild. But, only two months ago, there was a prison break. I, along with two of my friends, Cayde and Petra, ventured into the prison to round up the inhabitants and put an end to the riots. However, a dangerous group of criminals, known as the Barons, managed to escape…" I paused, before sighing and spitting out the next part, "And they killed Cayde."

Ghira looked troubled at that, but didn't interrupt, out of interest or respect I didn't know. "I spent the next two months hunting them all down and exacting my vengeance, before finally coming across their leader, a man known as Crow," Ghira jerked in his seat, eyes widening, but I continued, "His real name was Uldren Sov, and he had convinced the Barons that he was their father, the one who gave them their powers. Not entirely sure if that was true or not, but I tracked him down and put a bullet in his head easily enough, theoretical magic powers or not."

I chuckled humorlessly, before finishing my story, "The Vanguard, the leaders of the city, were divided on the issue. Cayde was one of them, the Hunter Vanguard, before his death, and they were thankful that I had avenged him. The Warlock Vanguard, Ikora, was particularly grateful. However, I had still gone rogue, and instead of protecting the city and its people, I had gone on a personal quest for vengeance, defying my duty as a Guardian due to my emotions. I've always been bad about that. So Zavala, the Titan Vanguard, exiled me, and I traveled for a time before arriving here. That's my story."

Of course, there were quite a few spots that weren't entirely true to the script. Zavala definitely hadn't exiled me, he hadn't even thought of it. Cayde was his friend as well, after all. But I needed a convenient excuse to not be where I had been before, and what better explanation than exile?

Ghira seemed moved by my story, tears welling in his eyes, but he simply finished writing on his clipboard before looking me in the eyes. "I suppose you don't have any idea what to do now, Mr. Arc?"

"You would be correct, sir."

He seemed to think for a minute, before nodding his head slightly. "I have a proposition for you. With your skills, I think you would make an extraordinary Huntsman, and from what you've told me you have experience fighting against Grimm as a protector of your home."

Grimm? Yet another word I didn't know, but I simply nodded my head nonetheless, it would look suspicious otherwise. "Yes sir."

"I'm friends with the headmaster of Beacon Academy. I can provide you a recommendation to present to him, it will allow you to participate in Beacon's Initiation in three months. Until then, I'll provide you an apartment, along with a monthly allowance for food and other necessities."

This sounded far too good to be true. "What's the catch?"

Ghira didn't seem surprised that I had figured out something was up, though to be fair it was pretty obvious. "That woman in the alleyway, the unconscious one, was wearing an interesting symbol and suffering from exhaustion brought along by Aura depletion. I assume you were the one who captured her?"

Assuming he meant the lizard/snake lady, I nodded.

"What you may not know," he continued, "Is that symbol belongs to a larger organization known as the White Fang. You may not have heard of them out in…" he paused for a second, before remembering the name, "Old Russia, but they were formerly a group of faunus rights activists, formed of both humans and faunus. A few years ago, however, they made the transition to terrorists, kicking out all their human members and turning towards violence to achieve their aims.

"I'm sure you're wondering why exactly I'm telling you this. I want you to keep an ear out for any information on them you can find and report it directly to me. They tend to keep a lower profile in Kuo Kuana, due to the city being mostly faunus, so most of the citizens believe their smokescreen of still being a peaceful faunus rights group, or at least freedom fighters for the people. Because of this, there's no faunus I can turn to, as all of them are either avid supporters or would be sold out by their friends as soon as they tried to spy. You, however, are an unknown, and most of the White Fang will be far more open with their violent tendencies towards a human."

I spoke up, curious. "This all sounds quite simple, but I feel like there's something you aren't telling me."

He sighed, folding his hands and looking down at the table. "I… my daughter has gone missing. She was part of the group, still foolishly believing in their cause despite the wrongs they committed, and a month ago she disappeared, cutting off all contact. No one I've asked will tell me anything, but I have reason to suspect she was moved away from Menagerie entirely, to conduct operations somewhere else. I… I would appreciate any information you can find on her."

There really wasn't any reason for me to refuse. The reward was generous, and it wasn't like there were Fallen or Cabal running around for me to punch into the dirt. This sounded as much like doing the right thing as anything else in this place did.

Making up my mind, I looked Ghira in the eyes. "I'll do it. What's her name?"

"Blake Belladonna. Thank you so much, Jaune."

 **-{}-**

 **{ELECTRONICS 'R' US; KUO KUANA BRANCH}**

 **{MENAGERIE}**

 **-{}-**

The store we entered was truly strange. It almost resembled some of the rooms in the Ishtar Collective, full of monitors and screens and hi-tech gadgets, but most of them were clearly inferior in every way to the tech of the Golden Age. The 'scroll' device, however, was interesting to me. It had a variety of functions, ranging from simple communication to a handheld HUD, able to display your global positioning, a compass, the route to your chosen destination, and even your Aura levels. This was especially useful to me, as my helmet was damaged, and the HUD didn't register the Darkness as it used to do with my Light.

As the cashier helped me through the process of setting up my scroll device, I thought about how crazy my day had been so far. In only a few hours, I had discovered a secret White Fang meeting, gotten shot at, killed two grunts and captured another, found my way into a city that looked more like a tropical resort, stopped a rape attempt, discovered that the Darkness inside me was extremely powerful and strangely eager to help me, beat up a group of thugs, got arrested, met the mayor of this town, and agreed to spy on a terrorist organization in order to find said mayor's daughter, who was also a terrorist.

Huh. Now that I list all that out, it almost sounds like an average Tuesday for me.

After a few minutes of running through the features and controls of my new scroll, I forked over some 'lien' and watched as the device was placed back in its box and dropped into a shopping bag. This world's currency was strange to me, though I don't know what I had expected: after all, it was an extremely slim chance that they would have discovered Glimmer.

Speaking of the extremely useful programmable matter, I was lucky that I still had most of mine stored in a pouch attached to my mark. After all, without it I would have a much more difficult time of repairing my armor and weapons, not to mention how fast I would have run out of ammunition. As it stood, however, I needed some form of computer in order to control it, which the scroll would hopefully cover, but it would still take time to learn this world's programming language and convert it into the Golden Age coding I needed in order to control my Glimmer.

As it stood, that would likely take months to do, and I had much more pressing matters to attend to. Namely, figuring out how exactly I would go about finding this 'White Fang' and discovering their secrets. Perhaps I could-

"Excuse me, sir. Your purchase is ready," the cashier, a middle-aged faunus with some form of canine ears, told me, holding out the shopping bag with my scroll in it.

Coughing lightly into my fist to hide my embarrassment at getting caught daydreaming, I nodded, taking the bag from his hands and walking back over to where Ghira had been waiting.

"Find everything you needed, Jaune?" he asked, pointing towards my bag with a raised eyebrow.

Looking down into it, I took in the forms of the three boxes and one book inside and nodded. "Yes, sir. Thanks for this, Ghira. I honestly don't know what I would have done without you."

"Ha! Honestly, you don't have to be so polite Jaune, you're doing me a huge favor. My wife will be thrilled to hear that such an upstanding young man such as yourself is helping find our daughter. Now, like I said, I'm not entirely sure where exactly she is, nor where the White Fang are, as they've kept their movements well-hidden. Though… they do have an embassy near the center of the city. I doubt you'd find anything extremely blatant there, like shipments of illegal weapons or important files, but you may find hints that point you in the right direction. Though, ah… you might want to get a few sets of clothes. Your armor is incredible, even with how damaged it is, but it isn't exactly subtle."

Glancing down at my armor, I conceded the point. The Iron Truage armor was a medal of status and skill amongst Guardians. Symbolizing success in the Iron Banner and requiring Lord Saladin's approval to receive, it was an intricately detailed armor that combined the styles of pre-Collapse samurai and Vikings, with golden wolf designs covering it in its entirety. Unfortunately, it was also extremely flashy. For a Titan, that was a good thing, it attracted attention and drew enemy fire, which kept said fire off of our far squishier allies, but on an undercover mission it was more of a liability than anything else. A pity, I liked this armor quite a bit actually.

"Any recommendations, Ghira?"

He looked thoughtful for a minute, before responding, "Actually, I know just the place…"

 **-{}-**

 **{LUAU CLOTHING STORE}**

 **{MENAGERIE}**

 **-{}-**

The sheer selection of clothing was almost insane, I'd never seen anything like it. In the Last City, most people wore clothing made of thick cloths, draping ponchos or jackets over the top in order to keep warm in the cold climate of Old Russia. Most of those pieces of clothing were drab, only one or two colors at most and generally lacking any kind of patterns that were not added personally. Even at the Farm, which was located in the European Dead Zone, most people wore the same drab clothing. It helped them not draw attention which, when Fallen scavengers were around almost every corner, was a good thing for civilians. The bright colors and crazy patterns were therefore generally left for Guardians to have.

All of that was why the vibrant colors and intricate patterns of this world's clothing was surprising to me. Even most Guardians didn't wear armor this intricate, due to how annoying it was to keep clean when out in the field and pressed for Glimmer, but this… Remnant's… occupants didn't seem to have that issue. Many of the shirts seemed to be advertising companies of some kind (Schnee Cola, People Like Grapes, and a ton of other brands I didn't recognize), while others simply had designs that seemed to serve no purpose other than looking pretty. Hell, some of the shirts were simply brightly colored flowers on a bright background, which I found eye-watering.

"Hey! You!" a voice called out, and I looked around, curious.

What met my gaze was a bit surprising to me. Now, at the Tower, before the Red War, I had seen a _lot_ of strange looks. Humans with the strangest hair colors, Awoken ranging from dark blue to aquamarine, and Exo of literally every color combination. But never had I seen anyone like the girl who just approached me.

The first thing to catch my eye was her height. Now, as a Titan, I stood taller than most, at around 6'5". This girl was, at most, two inches shorter than me. Adding on the ears on top of her head, she actually beat me by an inch or so. Her hair was also the most vibrant shade of orange I had ever seen, with black stripes mixed in to match her tiger traits. Her skin was bronze, a tad lighter than Ikora's own skin, and her jade green eyes shown with mirth. Despite the simple uniform she had on, likely the same one that all staff of this establishment wore, I could see that her build was that of a warrior, one whose muscles had grown in response to use, not just exercise.

All these observations were made in the split-second I took to look over her, but she still seemed to have caught my staring, judging by the smirk on her face. "Well, I was going to ask if I could do anything for you, but I think you might want something I can't help with. At least not while on the job…"

The suggestive wink she gave made me laugh. Ah, jokes at my expense, something that was ironically more familiar to me than traveling to other dimensions. You'd think, with the number of times I had traveled into the Infinite Forest, not to mention the amount of Throne Realms I had crushed, that I would be used to being in strange places, but it still got to me. Joking around with fellow Guardians, however, especially those who were far more verbal than I? Yes, that I did enjoy, even if most of said jokes were at my expense and usually told by Cayde.

Damn, I made myself sad again.

Snapping myself out of my thoughts, I gave the girl a grin. "Oh, I'm sure you can find some time to help out. But for now, I suppose I'll have to settle for help with finding myself some clothes."

Letting out a put-upon sigh, though the smile on her face revealed her true thoughts, she looked me up and down. "I suppose you do need the help, what with your apparent fashion choice. I mean, the gold is nice, and the detail is impressive, but I don't think that armor really helps your figure," she paused for a second, "You… _do_ have a figure, right? I mean, you have to, if you're wearing that heavy plate without any difficulty… Know what? I've got just the thing, follow me."

And that's how I got into this mess. I stood in front of the mirror, glaring at my reflection. While I wasn't vain, I didn't exactly hate my figure… but the shorts I was wearing made me want to bleach my eyes. Not only were they _way_ too short, barely making it past my undershorts, but they were the most garish shade of purple I had ever seen. The girl's reaction when I walked out of the dressing room, namely hysterical laughter, confirmed my suspicions that I had just gotten pranked.

"Alright, sorry, sorry. No more jokes, I promise! Here, try this on. Don't give me that look, you'll look amazing in it!"

Trekking back into the dressing room, but not before shooting her my patented Crow-Killing Stare™, I looked down at the bundle of clothes she had given me. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

A simple maroon jacket, a white shirt, and black pants. A pair of combat boots, these with what I could only assume was some form of reinforced toe plate due to their feel, completed the outfit. Looking over myself once more in the mirror, I nodded, pleased. It was functional, the material strong enough to provide protection against the elements without being too stiff for me to move in combat, and the outfit itself was definitely far more inconspicuous than my armor was. It was also close enough to my skin that it would be difficult for an opponent to grab onto it or for it to catch on anything. In other words, exactly what I needed.

Grabbing another set of the same clothes, I also selected a few differently colored versions of the pants and shirt before walking back to the front of the store. Unsurprisingly, the same girl that helped me out was there, standing behind the register. "Fancy seeing you here, handsome. Feel up to testing out your strength later?"

Testing out… what? Nevermind. "Nah, just here to pay for this. Thanks for helping me out, by the way."

She giggled, "Don't mention it, Mister…?"

Ah, we never did exchange names, did we? "Just call me Jaune. And you, lovely lady?"

Hah, if Cayde could see me now… Well, actually he'd have probably already managed to sleep with half the women in this town or gotten into an all-out shootout while racing through the city, forget about playful joke-flirting and alley brawls. He was always unique like that, I suppose.

"Just call me Jade," she parroted my introduction back at me, "You got a scroll?"

Raising an eyebrow, I nodded, holding it up for her to see. She snatched it out of my hands, and before I could make a sound, she had already finished typing on it and handed it back.

"There a reason you just stole that from me?"

Rolling her eyes, she responded, "Please, if I wanted to steal it, it would've been stolen. Nah, I put my number in your scroll, gimme a call sometime. Got it?"

"Got it," I agreed, chuckling.

Not even a day here and I'm making 'friends', that's just the Guardian way I suppose. After all, I had already befriended my fellow Guardians within hours of being rezzed for the first time, what's to say that the same wouldn't happen here?

"Anyway, there ya go. Oh, actually, wait a second!"

I paused mid-step, turning back around. "Yes?"

"Luau Clothing has a special offer for Hunters and Hunters-in-training. I can engrave a custom emblem on your clothes if you want, for another five Lien."

My first instinct was to reject it. After all, what need did I have for an emblem when my armor proudly displayed my allegiance to the Iron Lords? But then I thought of Ghost, and how I had nothing but his shattered parts to remember him by, and I made my decision.

"Actually, that would be great…"

 **-{}-**

 **{CITY STREETS}**

 **{MENAGERIE}**

 **-{}-**

I walked down the streets, inspecting the newest addition to my outfit. The dark grey, almost black scarf wrapped around my neck was a bit warm in the tropical climate of this city, true, but as Guardians had no real internal processes to handle, and we also didn't sweat, there was no real drawback besides a small amount of discomfort. Said discomfort was bearable, however, when I thought of exactly what this piece of clothing represented.

On the loose end of the scarf was my new emblem, that of a circle surrounded by four large and four small triangles. An extremely simple caricature of my Ghost's Sagira-inspired shell, yes, but one that would remind me to keep going as always. I had also bought a golden chain, in the same color as my armor's gilding. Carefully threading it through the hole in Ghost's core, I now carried my friend around my neck, as a morbid tribute to our travels together and a reminder of my mission: to protect the people from the Darkness. Whether or not these were my people, or even my Darkness, was irrelevant. All that mattered was that I was going to protect everyone I could.

After all, that was quite literally my only reason for existence, despite what others might have said.

Shaking myself out of those familiar self-deprecating thoughts, I turned my attention back to the street just in time for a young boy to run up to me and stare in wonder. I suppose it was understandable, since I had decided to wear the least damaged pieces of armor until I could reach my new apartment, carrying the rest in the large duffel bag over my shoulder. That left me with my left shoulder plate and both gauntlets, along with both armored boots and my mark around my waist. I had holstered Ace under my mark, as usual, but the rest of my weapons were in the bag with my armor and clothing.

"Wow! You look so cool, mister!" the child's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I focused on him.

He had on one of those annoying flower-shirts, a pair of tan shorts and what I could only assume was some kind of rhinoceros horn on his head. The glasses on his face drew attention away from said sharp horn, however, with how incredibly thick they were. Seriously, I had seen reinforced glass made thinner than those things.

"Uh… thanks, kid. Your, uh… shirt is pretty cool too."

Don't give me that look, I didn't exactly have much experience with kids. Or fanboys. Seeing as how most of us Guardians spent our time up in the Tower, and then the second Tower (yes, the Vanguard is lazy at naming, though it was probably Cayde or Zavala's fault), we didn't exactly interact with children that much. Especially since most citizens saw us as undead abominations, but that was neither here nor there.

"Thanks! Hey, mister, what kind of faunus are you? Ooh! I bet you're some sort of super strong gorilla faunus! That armor looks heavy…" Thanks kid, for getting me back on track.

Also, there's gorilla faunus? What kind of genetics allow for this variety of animal traits? Especially since I doubt they… well, you know, with animals.

"Actually, I'm a human. I don't have any special traits, though that would be pretty cool." Dead useful too, I can only imagine how useful heavily enhanced hearing or a tail would be when fighting the Darkness.

The look the boy gave me was one of pure confusion. "A human? There's no humans here, the White Fang said they'd protect us from those meanies! Don't worry mister, I won't tell anyone about you being a gorilla faunus!"

Well, that would almost have reassured me, if his next action wasn't to run back to his mother, shouting about his new gorilla faunus friend while she shook her head in amusement. Huh, who knew kids could be such a good source of information?

Not only am I apparently the only human in Menagerie (not sure why, it's a beautiful city, the perfect vacation spot), but the White Fang's mission statement is apparently to keep out all the humans in the first place. It would explain why I was attacked earlier… well, other than the fact that I interrupted an important secret meeting, but still. It probably contributed a bit anyway.

So, that's nice to know, but how does that-

"GRIMM! GRIMM ATTACK!"

Ah, screaming. Something that, as a Guardian, I was used to. Despite that, memories of the Red War had me drawing the Ace of Spades and sprinting towards the source of the screaming. On my way there, the muck inside me seemed to reach out towards something, something beyond the city walls. Something that felt… familiar.

Something… _dark_.

And, for some reason, I couldn't keep the happy grin off my face at the thought.

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **So yeah, here's the first chapter. I'm not going to give a long, drawn-out explanation of everything this time, though I will list what all gear our favorite Guardian has in this story, as well as an up-to-date description of the 'Darkness' subclass, of which I have made three paths, similar to all classes in Destiny 2. Yes, unlocking the middle path will be an absolute pain, and will happen much later in the story. In this universe, I allow for multiple Exotic equips, seeing as how there isn't really any reason not to besides game balance (some Exotic armor pieces have lore that implies they wouldn't work together, but to my knowledge most weapons don't). Also, some of the Exotic lore is extremely interesting, and even more of it is completely hilarious. ACD/0 Feedback Fence's lore segment is about how exactly they work, but also makes a cheeky reference to AC-DC (the band), implying that they existed in the Destiny universe.**_

 _ **I'm sure many who played Destiny 1 or 2 are wondering why exactly I gave Jaune the Helm of Saint-14, if he is no longer a Defender/Sentinel. Well, in game I main top-path Sentinel (with a bit of mid-path for variety), with the exact armor set I detailed here (though my Shader changes whenever I get bored of the current one), and I love the look of the helmet. It will also be useful later on with his Darkness, though exactly how won't be revealed until much later.**_

 _ **GEAR:**_

 _ **Weapons:**_

 _ **Ace of Spades (Last Hand Ornament)**_

 _ **Hard Light (The Future Is Chrome Ornament)**_

 _ **Legend of Acrius (War Beast Skin Ornament)**_

 _ **Armor:**_

 _ **Helm of Saint-14**_

 _ **Iron Truage Gauntlets**_

 _ **Iron Truage Plate**_

 _ **Iron Truage Greaves**_

 _ **Radegast's Iron Sash**_

 _ **Golden Trace Shader**_

 _ **Mobility: 1**_

 _ **Resistance: 10**_

 _ **Recovery: 3**_

 _ **SUBCLASS:**_

 _ **Grenade:**_

 _ **Phase Grenade (Deals a moderate amount of damage to health, ignoring shields (does not ignore 'immune' status, must connect with enemy to deal damage))**_

 _ **UNDISCOVERED**_

 _ **UNDISCOVERED**_

 _ **Barricade:**_

 _ **Vortex Barricade (A large portal that absorbs enemy fire for a short time, before releasing a burst equal to the total damage absorbed in a short-range cone in front of itself (only lasts ten seconds, damage range is only five feet in distance))**_

 _ **UNDISCOVERED**_

 _ **Super: UNDISCOVERED**_

 _ **PATHS:**_

 _ **Top: Code of the Corrupted: UNDISCOVERED**_

 _ **Middle: Code of the Redeemed: UNDISCOVERED**_

 _ **Bottom: Code of the Tormented: UNDISCOVERED**_

 _ **What you see here is what you get. There won't be any other pieces of gear that our main character will receive in this story, through any means, besides a couple of disposable weapons used in extenuating circumstances. Also, the 'paths' will be different from in-game, he'll 'upgrade' to the next path and won't be able to access the previous ones, though he will be able to switch between grenades and barricades at will. Anyway, that's it for now, I hope you all enjoyed it. Review if you'd like, I appreciate any constructive criticism you have for me.**_

 _ **By the way, does anyone else find it humorous that Bungie released the Menagerie in Season 7, while the place Jaune arrived is also named Menagerie? Obviously not intended, seeing as this story idea is far older than Season 7, but still. I found it kinda funny, seeing as how I started this rewrite after Seasons 6 and 7 drew me back into the game.**_

 _ **Also, I have plans of doing omakes for this story, both my own and fan-made, so if you have any ideas send them in as a PM. The first one will be displayed at the end of next chapter, after the Darkness Subclass information.**_

 _ **The rest of the chapters will be uploaded as I finish them, so look forward to that in the next week or so.**_

 _ **Again, thanks for reading my story, and this is AWDTB, signing off.**_

 _ **I'll see you all next time.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N:_**

 ** _Welcome to the second chapter of The Darkness Inside! First off, thank you to everyone who took the time to write a review! Speaking of, a reviewer asked a great question, that I'm going to answer here: Will Jaune have Aura?_**

 ** _That would be a no. The reasoning behind that is pretty simple: He already has a power of his own that shields him when used, which is pretty much the entire use of Aura. As for his Semblance, it just wouldn't work with this Jaune. Why, you ask? Well, Jaune's Semblance is healing through infusing Aura, right? That's fine when your Aura is pretty much, on a fundamental level, the same as every other Aura. But what happens when you infuse your Aura into someone when you're corrupted with Darkness? I'm going to go out on a limb and say probably nothing good._**

 ** _So, there's the reasoning behind Jaune not having Aura._**

 ** _Also, a few people seem to be upset that I used Jaune instead of an OC… I can understand him being overused, but please consider: This is not, and will never be, the same Jaune as canon. He's been a Guardian for three years, gone through things that even Ozpin couldn't imagine (yeah sure, the Grimm Witch is scary, but then there's Oryx…), so there's simply no way he'd ever be the same fool as in the actual RWBY show. Really and truly, he's more of an OC with Jaune's name. So don't worry about this simply being another 'hero Jaune' story, he's definitely not going the valiant hero route… at least not willingly, anyway._**

 ** _Also, I changed some of the organization of the story, makes it a bit easier to read. Anyway, on to the Disclaimer, the best part of this story!_**

 ** _Magical Disclaimer Shield: AWDTB owns nothing, he is currently living in the writer's equivalent of under a bridge. However, RoosterTeeth owns this show called RWBY, and Bungie and Activision have thought up this great game called Destiny, you should go check those out!_**

 _ **And now that my anti-lawsuit shield is up, onto the story!**_

 **{KUO KUANA; WEST CITY WALL}**

 **{DURING GRIMM INCURSION}**

I held down the trigger once more, several rounds piercing through one of the black birds that dove at me. I vaulted over a street cart, hearing a vague cry of something about cabbages, and aimed down my sights at the next bird.

These shots came out slower than the ones before, but each one did more damage, the armor-piercing rounds punching holes through the bird's mask as its corpse faceplanted in the street. I finished making my way over to the ramparts, quickly scaling the ladder up to the top.

"Howdy stranger, mighty kind of you to lend a hand!"

I looked to my left, seeing a strangely-dressed man holding what appeared to be a lever-action rifle attached to the back of a sword. He wore some strange leather outfit with a wide-brimmed hat of the same material, and had a piece of straw hanging out of his mouth that he was chewing on. He also had a horse tail swishing behind him.

"Uh, yeah, no problem. What's up with these things?" I asked, pointing to the flock of Darkness birds.

"Them there are Nevermore, 'bought the only thing that gives us problems up on this wall. Them suckers are fast and can shoot razor-sharp feathers, not to mention they can fly."

"That's-" I cut myself off as I ducked under one of the afore-mentioned feathers, shooting one of the birds who got too close with the Invective as I did, "annoying, I suppose."

He laughed, holding out a hand. "You said it! The name's Joe Amarillo, partner."

"Jaune Arc." Another few shots from Her Memory put down another bird, and I shook his hand. "Are these things always this easy to kill, or are these just weak ones?"

"Well, these are juveniles, they're smaller and weaker than their adult versions. And then there's the Giant ones… but yeah, these are pretty easy to put down, they just come in large numbers and do their best to ruin your day."

"Got it. Do these attacks happen often?"

"Every now and again, we don't have a lot of turrets set up on our wall like the Four Kingdoms do, so we make do with militia and volunteers. Every once in a while we'll get enough to hire a team of Huntsmen-in-training, but we try and save that for the bigger incursions, y'know?"

I nodded, satisfied with the information I had gotten, and we went back to shooting down Nevermore. After a few more minutes of this, we had cleared them all out, and so I said my goodbyes, exchanged scroll numbers with Joe, and wandered off, hoping to find something else to tide me over for a while. All in all, the fight with the Grimm was really disappointing, it was like shooting flying Legionaries, nothing really challenging or interesting.

Of course, part of me, the part that I really didn't want to acknowledge the existence of, was simply upset that I hadn't gotten an excuse to channel the Darkness again, but I ruthlessly smothered that thought and kept walking, resolving to find myself an ammunition store.

 **{KUO KUANA; FROM DUST TILL DAWN}**

 **{TWO HOURS LATER}**

After a long time spent searching and asking for directions, I finally found the nearest 'Dust' store. Apparently that was capital-D Dust, some kind of magical crystal powder that acted as both ammunition and power source. I mentally equated it to some kind of crystallized Light and moved on from those questions about how it worked or how it even appeared in nature in the first place.

Now, I stood in front of the doors of the store, Her Memory slung on my back and one of its magazines in my hand. I was down to only three of these now, counting the one in my hand, after I had used most of my ammo on the Grimm. In hindsight, kind of a bad idea, but I wasn't thinking about it at the time.

I shook myself out of my thoughts, opening the door to the store and walking in. Inside, there were wall-to-ceiling shelves stocked with some kind of multi-colored crystals and powders, most likely this 'Dust', as well as boxes of ammunition with different effects. I looked over to the front counter, finding three Faunus with masks talking to the shopkeeper, an elderly man with… walrus teeth? Huh.

I steeled myself, having recognized the masks as the same one that the lizard-woman wore, and walked closer, just enough to hear their conversation.

"You have my thanks for helping protect our town from Grimm during the attack but… why are you here?"

"Well, we came here for some ammo for our weapons, and since all our ammo was wasted defending you, we were hoping you could give us some. You know, for free."

I rolled my eyes, barely stopping myself from calling them out. I hadn't seen a single person wearing a mask at the wall, and these guys were attempting to steal credit already? Wow…

"Well, I would love to help you, but… business here has been scarce, especially since all of our Huntsmen candidates are all going to Academies in the Four Kingdoms now. There's simply not anyone here who needs Dust in large enough quantities for me to make enough money anymore…"

"Yeah, that's great old man, but are you saying you'd deny _heroes_ the Dust they need to protect you? Because that's what it sounds like."

"N-No, that's not at all-"

I stepped in at that point, fed up with their attitudes. "Oh shut up you three. I was there on the wall, fighting off the Grimm, and I didn't see a single person from your little White Fang group there. Do you even know what kind of Grimm we fought?"

"Yeah, obviously. There were Alpha Beowolves and Ursa Majors, I even killed a Deathstalker myself!"

I shook my head, face in my palm. "There were about two dozen juvenile Nevermore, not a single other kind of Grimm. And they definitely weren't anything that took a lot to kill, we took them all out in a few minutes with no casualties, only a few injuries here and there. So why don't you three just run along and roleplay as heroes somewhere else?"

I turned away from them, about to talk to the shopkeeper, only to feel something rake down my side, cutting into me. I fell to the floor, hand grasping my side in pain, my bag slipping off my shoulder and falling to the ground.

"Ha, not so tough now, are you human? You don't even have your Aura unlocked, there's no way you could stand against us, the White Fa-"

I cut him off with a shot from the Invective, kicking him in the stomach before turning to his friends who were staring at the gun in my hands. "I don't give a shit who you are, I don't care who you work for, but know this: try that again, and I'll keep shooting till I get through your Aura. And trust me, you'll run out of Aura long before I run out of ammo. Now scram!"

The two of them dragged their buddy out, who was still yelling threats at me. Once they were gone, I allowed myself to sink to the ground, gritting my teeth in pain. Why the hell did I turn my back on them?! That was a rookie mistake, I stopped doing those once I got shot in the back by a Cabal I thought I killed, so _why the hell_ _did I do that again_?! And… why was I so angry? I mean sure, I was pretty pissed that he did such a cowardly thing, but I took that far more personally than I would have before… well, before I came here, I suppose. Come to think of it, I've been far more irritable lately, and I can't put all the blame on the Darkness in me. I want to, but I can tell when the Darkness is influencing me, and it definitely wasn't right then.

The old shopkeeper ran over to me, checking me over. "Are you okay?!"

I slowly stood, feeling the Darkness activate against my will and begin to heal me. It would've been nice to know that it would do that, if, you know, it wasn't the Darkness doing it. I really needed to figure out just what the heck was going on with that… I shook myself out of my thoughts as I turned to the shopkeeper, "I'll live, bastard got a lucky shot is all."

He seemed to calm a bit as he saw my side knit itself back together. "Thank you for helping me young man. I am in your debt."

"Ah, there's really no reason for that sir, I was just doing what anyone would do…"

"Nonsense. The White Fang has been getting bolder lately, some of their recruits becoming cocky and thinking they can do whatever they want, since they're 'protecting the Faunus'. What a load of crap, but there's not much that normal people can do, since even the lowest grunts get training in hand-to-hand and armed combat. So again, thank you. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"

I thought for a second, wincing a bit at the pain in my side. I really didn't want him to feel he was in my debt, but at the same time I was also completely on my own and unable to really do much at the moment. "Is there any way I could get some custom rounds made? I'm running low for my auto rifle."

He rubbed his chin (barely avoiding his tusks) for a moment, thoughtful, before replying. "I'd have to take a look at your rounds first, but I'll see what I can do for you. The first batch will be free, seeing as how you saved me money in damages and the Dust they would've taken, but after that I'm afraid I'll have to charge you."

"That's fine, I'd pay for the first batch as well if you weren't so insistent on repaying me." I handed him one of my magazines, mentally cringing as I noted I was practically out of ammo now, "I'll be seeing you around. Here's a magazine, it has thirty-six rounds in it. That should be enough for you to study."

"That should be plenty. It may take a few days before I can provide a steady supply, is that fine?"

"That'll be just fine, I'm not planning on getting involved in any gunfights in the next few days." Well, not planning on it, but tonight I do have to check out the White Fang… wow, I haven't even been in this city for a full day yet, have I?

"That's good, I'd hate to lose my only paying customer!" he joked, chuckling. After a quick exchange of scroll numbers, in order for him to call me whenever he had any ammunition for me, I left.

Looking around outside, I noticed it was starting to grow dark. The time on my scroll read _18:34_ , so I shrugged and decided to head over to the White Fang outpost a bit earlier than I had planned. Not like it would make any difference anyways.

 **{KUO KUANA; WHITE FANG EMBASSY BUILDING}**

 **{FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER}**

I looked up at the building in front of me, a two-story cement brick structure that looked like it could probably take a shot from the Gjallahorn and stay standing. Someone definitely had experience building bunkers here. I mean, it was no RAS-2, the Warmind's bunker survived the Collapse and several other attacks after all, but it was definitely the strongest building I had seen so far here.

At the moment, I was simply standing around in my civilian clothing, an oversized bag on my back, the very picture of a tourist. The looks I received from the people around me ranged from curious to suspicious to hateful, but no one confronted me, and I moved on after a few moments of glancing over the White Fang's base.

I took a few turns as I walked, before eventually slipping into an alley. I put my backpack on the ground, leaning against the wall as I thought about what I had just seen. No windows of any kind on the first floor, second floor windows too thin to fit through even without armor, doors looked too sturdy to simply knock down, walls definitely too thick to get through without channeling the Darkness, no other visible entrances, no large bushes or structures to hide behind… they really had thought of everything, huh?

I sighed in frustration, leaning my head back against the wall and closing my eyes. Of course I just had to go and promise to help out, huh? Never could turn down a 'quest' I suppose… but this was more of a Hunter thing…

Slowly opening my eyes, I looked down at the scroll that the mayor had given me, deciding to spend some time searching the Grimm. I would much rather get a job killing them than spying on terrorists… less danger that way too.

Finally night fell, and I found myself perched on a roof across from the embassy building, using my scroll's camera zoom in order to look through the windows. It was a bit harder than I thought it would be, true, but I didn't exactly have the money to buy any good binoculars (if they even had them in this place, after all Faunus have incredibly good vision… lucky), so this was my only choice.

"Stealth _really_ isn't my thing."

"I'd say, you've been here for- woah!"

I stopped my fist right before punching the person in front of me, silently willing the Darkness inside me back down. It had swelled up in time with my surprise, and I had almost given into it on reflex… that would've been… _bad_.

"Jade?! What are you doing here?" I hissed quietly, glancing around quickly to make sure no one else had snuck up on me. That was twice now with this shit!

"Apparently almost getting punched in the face," she snarked, before smirking, "But originally I was spying on that building there, then I saw you and decided to stop by."

Spying? A clothes store clerk, spying?

My skeptic look must have been obvious, because she glared. "Hey, just because I have a day job doesn't mean I can't have a hobby." She crossed her arms, pouting.

I sighed, shaking my head to clear it. "And just why are you indulging in your hobby here, next to me?"

She giggled, and as she opened her mouth I cut her off, realizing what I had said could be taken differently than how I meant. "Spying, why are you spying on this building in particular?"

She pouted again. I had spent enough time trying on clothes and listening to her to realize she had a _slightly_ (read: _very_ ) dirty mind, and as much as I appreciated the ego boost, I had no desire to discover if the Darkness had infected more than just my blood… _and derailing that train of thought right now_.

"Fine, you're no fun. I came here to check on my sister, okay?"

"You have a sister? Nevermind, more importantly, why are you checking on her?"

She sighed, grasping her upper arm with her left hand and looking down to the side. "It's just… she joined the Fang a while back, said she wanted to make a difference, but then they went… violent. And now, whenever… _if_ she comes home, she always has this look in her eyes, like she's starting to lose hope, you know? And I came here to see if I could convince her to, well, give it all up and just come home. Our mother's worried sick about her…"

I kept my eyes on her face as she talked, looking for any signs of deceit. Hey, I had been attacked at least three times in a single day here by Faunus, so I felt I was allowed a bit of suspicion. Luckily I didn't find any, but then again I wasn't exactly an expert at this… after all, there's no real reason to get a read on something you're currently pumping lead into.

"I'm sorry to hear that…"

She choked out a laugh, her sadness giving way to amusement. "You know, for a human, you're not that bad Jaune…"

I shrugged, not sure how to take that, "Thanks, I think. I try."

She fell into giggles once more, before giving me a look. "So, Mr. Spy, what're you doing here?"

"Well, it all started when I entered the city and stopped an attempted rape, then I was thrown in jail…"

 **{ONE LONG STORY LATER}**

Jade finally drew in enough air to breathe after almost a full minute spent laughing. "Oh my Dust, your life is so much more eventful than mine! You were attacked twice today, not to mention the Grimm attack, and you're still standing? And I thought I was strong!"

"Yeah, so that's basically it, up until I almost punched you at least." Obviously I had decided not to mention being attacked in the forest, as then I would have to explain just how I mysteriously appeared in said forest in the first place, or even on this continent. I had looked up Menagerie on my scroll, and found out it was an island, so I was pretty much stuck here until I gathered money for a boat.

"So, you don't have anywhere to live, or even anything to use to spy on the embassy, huh?" I simply nodded, I had already covered all of that in my story, "Alright then! You're staying with me for now!"

I'm fairly certain my complete and utter shock was written on my face, because she just laughed and grabbed my bag, easily lifting it and throwing it onto her back. "Come on!"

And I was left sitting there for a moment, before I realized she had just taken my gear and ran off, the only things I had from my old world and the only weapons I had here besides the Darkness. "Wait, get back here!"

I chased after her, trying my best to keep up with her annoying parkour skills. Just how the hell can she jump around like an experienced Hunter?! I really need to research this world's fighting styles…

 **{KUO KUANA; FELU RESIDENCE}  
{FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER}**

I finally caught up to Jade at her home, having run almost fifteen minutes at a full sprint. Not the worst run I had ever done, but definitely tiring. She simply smirked at me, showing no sign of exertion from her own session of parkour on the rooftops, and opened the door, walking inside and dropping my pack on the floor. I winced as I heard the contents impact the floor, rattling together with an obvious sound of metal-on-metal.

Jade raised an eyebrow, opening the backpack as I gave up resisting and walked inside. I reached her just as she pulled out my helmet, inspecting it with a critical eye. "I've never seen armor of such amazing craftmanship before… but you obviously haven't fixed it up lately, look at all these dents and chips in the paint. And this," she said, pulling out the Armamentarium, "you have a lot of pouches for ammunition here, but they're all empty except for these grenades…"

She trailed off as she removed one of the grenades, giving her a perfect view of one of the holes in the armor. It had come from a fight with a Thrall before I faced Oryx, the little shit having sunk its claws into my heart even as I blew its head off with the Invective, leaving a fair-sized slash mark that Ghost hadn't had time to patch up before Oryx attacked. There were several more similar marks littering the armor, the helmet having received the least punishment with only a few large dents.

Jade looked up to me, as if evaluating me, and suddenly, before I could blink, she was standing in front of me, having lifted my shirt up to reveal my torso… and the scars littering it. Revival didn't 'restore' you so much as it 'healed' you, meaning that lost limbs would be fixed, but if you lost an eye you were pretty much out of luck unless your entire body was practically mush, in which case Ghost would have to construct a new one. It took a lot of Light though, so it wasn't done very often.

"These look…" she swallowed audibly, why I didn't know but I definitely heard it, "… lethal. Just how 'interesting' was your life… and how are you still living it?"

I wrenched myself away from her, my shirt falling back down to cover me. "Very, and with a lot of luck and a little skill."

She gave me a pitying look, which caused my annoyance to flare once more. I didn't feel like reliving everything I had ever gone through, but here was this pushy teenager dragging my bad memories kicking and screaming into the light. "Look, can we just not talk about this right now? It's over, it has no impact on the present."

I broke eye contact with her, snatching up my helmet and walking over to the couch, laying down with the helmet held above my chest. I looked at it with a critical eye, remembering everything from the day I received it to now, and felt a tear escape my eye. So many deaths, so many Guardians lost permanently, the destruction of attempted colonies and old cities alike were seen by these dark eye sockets…

Sighing, I lowered the helmet, placing it next to me on the ground. "Are you just going to stand there, or do you have a question for me?"

In my peripheral vision I saw Jade twitch slightly in surprise, obviously not having expected me to notice her. "I just… Look, I'm sorry for whatever memories I made you relive, but… it's not healthy to keep them bottled in like that. That's what Dad did, before… well. Just, I'm here if you ever need to talk, okay?"

I bit back my first response, that being a simple 'fuck off', and forced myself to think about it. She seemed genuinely worried, not simply pitying, and she had mentioned a father who, judging by her tone, had kept his own emotions bottled up, and was most likely dead now. Knowing this, it seemed more likely she simply didn't want the same to happen to me… not that she really understood, but I could understand her position more now. "… Got it. Thanks."

I gave her a weak smile, enough to reassure her a little, and she left the room. I turned back to stare at the ceiling, now pondering just why she was so friendly and trusting. Sure, we had spent about an hour together that day, and we _had_ talked about a lot, but it was mostly just small talk. Exchanging numbers wasn't really all that uncommon here it seemed, so that wasn't really an act of trust or real friendship. But, the fact that she came up to me tonight, _actively sought me out_ while she had her own objective, made me think that she wanted something. What that might be I didn't know, it could be anything from friendship to a personal guardian, or even a servant, but she definitely didn't search me out on a whim… and suddenly I remember exactly who I'm thinking about.

Of course she sought me out on a whim, even spending a single hour with her was enough to tell she was extremely outgoing and friendly. She had likely just saw me, and thought she would catch up with her friend, figure out what I was up to… but then why tell me so much about herself? Even the most easygoing Guardians didn't give away much about themselves unless you were on extremely good terms… She mentioned a sister in the White Fang who she wanted to help, maybe she wanted me to help her with that? But how the heck was I, a human, supposed to convince a human-hating terrorist to give up her ways?

I groaned, closing my eyes and deciding to think over this in the morning. It was almost midnight now, and after everything that had happened today, I just wanted to rest.

 **{THE NEXT MORNING}**

Of course, the next morning wasn't any better.

"Jade! Why did you make your boyfriend sleep on the couch?! Where are your manners young woman!"

I opened my eyes to find an older woman leaning over to look at me, a bemused look on her face. She had a tiger tail instead of ears as her apparent daughter, with deep blue hair that somehow didn't clash with her orange tail. She wore a simple white dress with a large gauntlet on her left arm, covering the entire arm in plate armor. Sheathed on her waist was a straight sword, which was strange compared to the usually curved swords I had been seeing while in this city. Her eyes were mismatched, one being green while the other was a strange gold color, both filled with mirth at the moment.

I was distracted from my observations (and slight discomfort) by Jade falling down the stairs, letting out a pained moan once she reached the bottom. "Mom… He's not my boyfriend…"

I barely stopped the laughter that tried to escape me when I saw how she looked. She had apparently been fixing her hair, as she still had a comb stuck in one of the knots on top, and it looked as if she had just awoken, as her eyes were still half-closed and it seemed to take all of her effort to keep them open. Obviously, my newest friend was _not_ a morning person.

"That's nice dear, but why was he sleeping on the couch without even a blanket?"

Huh. Her mother was… different than what I expected. Sure, it wasn't like I had met a lot of mothers in my three years as a Guardian (it was _very_ rare that a pregnant Guardian stayed alive very long, and even once they were revived the baby was lost), but from what I could remember of my old life, my mother would've been alternating between chewing one of my sisters out for bringing a boy home and glaring at said boy in suspicion.

"Hey, that wasn't my fault! He just decided to sleep there, and I wasn't going to bother him!"

Her mother seemed to smirk, before saying something that almost caused me to fall off the couch. "Was this before or after you two made me grandbabies?"

I was struck speechless, mouth wide open, and it seemed that Jade was not much better. "Mom!"

The older woman's laughter echoed through the house as she clutched her sides, eventually calming down enough to speak. "Oh my Dust you two are adorable! Ah, that was exactly what I needed after this week…"

I managed to recover just enough to speak. "Uh… Mrs. Felu, Jade and I really aren't-"

She cut me off, chuckling. "Of course you two aren't, Jade would've been gushing about you earlier if you were. I was just teasing you two. But I must ask, Jade, where did you find this one?"

"He came to the store I work at looking for clothes, still dressed in his ridiculously heavy armor, so I helped him out."

"Oh, you were helping him out of his clothes when you two first met? My chances for grandbabies are getting higher and higher with this one…" Well, I can see where Jade got it from… I must've really pissed someone off in my last life to- oh right, Oryx.

"Mom! Stop it, you're embarrassing me!"

"Fine, fine. You mentioned armor? Are you a huntsman-in-training, young man?"

I shrugged, "Something like that. More of a freelancer at the moment."

She nodded, seeming a bit uncomfortable, but I equated that to either discomfort around humans or seeing a strange boy in her house. Or both, really. "Have you ever thought of applying to one of the combat academies? They'll be having their entrance exams in a few months, and you seem to be the right age for it."

"Not really, after all I've been a bit busy lately with everything that's been happening. I may do that though, it sounds like it may help." Help with what, I don't know, but the term 'combat academy' implies I'll be able to find _some_ kind of career that will fit my skillset, at least for a little while until I can get established here and actually do some freelancer work. According to my research, there were Grimm _everywhere_ , I'm sure I could find plenty of work killing them.

"You should, maybe you'll even go to the same academy as my Jade here. I'm sure she'd absolutely love that."

"Mom!"

This woman seems extremely… catty, for lack of a better term, she really seemed to enjoy playing around with words and people alike… "That may be a possibility, ma'am."

"No need for that 'ma'am' stuff, just call me Sapphire. Judging from your looks, your words and the helmet I can see there, I'd say you're from Atlas, probably raised by a military family, perhaps?"

Oh shit. Uh… let's see, Atlas, military kingdom, very few outside settlements due to the cold weather and risk of Grimm, lots of soldiers and Huntsmen in their army, generally bad opinion on Faunus… "Uh, yeah… My mom and dad moved outside the Kingdom, couldn't stand the racism against Faunus, even the ones in the military. They were killed a little while back by Grimm during a snowstorm, couldn't see well enough to shoot them I guess. Been traveling ever since, took their weapons and Dad's armor with me. Arrived in Kuo Kuana yesterday."

Well, that'll do as a backstory in case anyone asks I guess, hopefully. I didn't really like lying to them, but what the hell was I supposed to say? 'Oh yeah, I was fighting the physical embodiment of evil since he hated me after I killed his son, and then I was teleported here by him after I used some kind of evil eldritch energy instead of the pure holy energy I had before, and now I'm stuck with that? Oh and I was also immortal until now.' Yeah, I'm sure that'd go over extremely well…

I was drawn out of my thoughts by the sound of sniffling, and Sapphire surprised me by practically choking me with a sudden hug. Her words came out in between sobs, "That's… so sad… you poor boy…"

I shot Jade a look, and she returned it with a sheepish shrug that I translated to 'Sorry bud, you're on your own'. Great.

 **{KUO KUANA; WHITE FANG EMBASSY}  
{ONE HOUR LATER}**

Luckily for my sanity (and my poor ribs), Sapphire calmed down pretty quickly. That woman goes through so many mood swings I could barely keep up. After a quick breakfast (which was actually surprisingly good), Jade and I went our separate ways, me to spy on the Fang and her to her job.

At the present, I found myself in the lobby of the embassy, talking to the woman at the counter. I had enough time to think over it, and had decided to simply see how much I could learn from simply asking. Of course, I had forgotten to take into account one simple fact…

"The White Fang doesn't associate with your kind!"

Yeah, that.

"Look, ma'am, I was told that your mission statement was to foster cooperation between humans and Faunus. Was I misinformed?"

"I don't think you understand, _sir_. The White Fang was created for equality between humans and Faunus! Look around you, do you see a lot of equality right now?!"

I tried to stop my next words, I really did, but the hypocrisy needed to be called out. "No, right now I see a Faunus discriminating against a human based on race, the very thing the White Fang was created to stop. But of course, equality only goes one way in your point of view."

Her next words were delivered with remarkable restraint, especially for someone who had just had their hypocritical views challenged. "Get out before I call security on you."

I nodded respectfully, before turning around and walking out the door. I got about halfway across the street before it hit me just what I had done. Great, now I had to watch my back for any Fang looking for me… And all because I just _had_ to make some stupid comment. Must be the Titan inside me coming back out…

Sighing, I decided to call the mayor. The scroll rang a few times, before he answered.

"Jaune, my boy! Have you found anything yet?"

"Unfortunately, nothing great. First off, a lot of the new recruits seem to be on a power trip, I had to stop some of them from attacking a Dust shop owner yesterday. They also seem to be stealing credit, as I was on the wall helping repel the Grimm attack and didn't see a single Faunus wearing a mask or uniform, yet the recruits were spreading lies that they had been there and fought off the Grimm almost single-handedly. Also, I just finished talking with the receptionist inside the embassy, and… it would seem that the White Fang is most definitely no longer a human-friendly organization, if the 'friendly' receptionist they chose was the best option available."

"That's… not good at all." I could hear the worry in his voice, and hoped my next words would help some.

"No, but I did find out some good news. I talked with a friend I made yesterday, she said her sister in the White Fang seemed to be having second thoughts about what they were doing. Of course, that makes me pretty sure that what the Fang are doing is bad if it's enough to make older members think about leaving, but it does mean that some members are sincerely thinking of leaving, meaning that not everyone in the organization is a die-hard, human-hating zealot like most people think."

"That's good. Have you… found out anything about my daughter?"

I winced, the sheer concern in his voice making me feel a bit guilty that I couldn't help much. "Unfortunately no, I haven't been able to do much on that front. As a human, I can't infiltrate the Fang, and their embassy building is more like a bunker than an embassy. There's no real way I can get inside to look at anything, especially since I'm not really built for stealth, and to break down the walls would require using my Semblance, which isn't the most… user-friendly."

I had simply decided to call the Darkness my Semblance, after all that's what the lizard woman called it, and that way I could simply refer to it as powerful but dangerous to the user. Easier than calling it an evil eldritch energy corrupting my soul, I suppose…

"I'll see if I can find a stealth expert to place some listening devices inside the building. Thank you for what you've done so far, and the small amount of hope you've given me. I hate asking more of you, but I've heard rumors of a supposed White Fang operation tonight. Could you look into it for me?"

"Of course."

Thinking back on it, I probably should've said no.

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _So, continuing the tradition from last chapter, here's some explanations:_**

 ** _1)_** **** ** _Juvenile Grimm_**

 ** _So, this is mostly just me trying to explain away a few plotholes from RWBY. Such as, 'if giant and extremely old Grimm can be killed as easily as in Initiation, then how the heck are they such a problem?' Basically, I've created four 'tiers': 1) Juvenile, for the extremely young and stupid Grimm (fodder, basically), 2) Adult/Alpha Grimm (smarter but still weak, able to form basic strategies such as ambushing enemies) (Alphas are just a slightly stronger version, between Adult and Giant), 3) Giant Grimm (abnormally large Grimm, excessively strong but only about the intelligence of an Adult), and 4) Ancient Grimm (extremely strong and sturdy, able to trick even experienced Hunters if given the chance). So yeah, if anyone was wondering what the difference was, that's it._**

 ** _2)_** **** ** _The White Fang being idiotic pricks_**

 ** _This is actually not true at all… mostly. All the Fang that have acted like idiots have been newer recruits, those who think that just because they joined a club that they have special privileges (think of it as you're playing an RPG, made a clan or guild from scratch, and some cocky little shit joins and starts bullying other players, giving you a bad rep. It's kinda like that). As you saw last chapter with the lizard-girl, there are plenty of Fang who are actually skilled, and those will be a problem for Jaune. (Also, while not all the Fang are idiotic pricks, like 97% of them hate humans cause, ya know, it's an anti-human terrorist group)._**

 ** _3)_** **** ** _Jade_**

 ** _So, basically she's there to help Jaune get back on his feet. Right now, pretty much the only thing keeping him from straight up breaking down is the chain of events happening to him. I'm sure you've noticed him mention his old world or that he hates the Darkness about a dozen times already. That's not him being angsty (well, it is, a little), that's him pausing long enough to realize he's got nothing and start breaking down, before yet another thing drags him out of his thoughts. So, in comes Jade! She'll be important in Menagerie, but pretty much nothing else, so don't start liking her too much. Also, fun fact, Jade and her sister Amber's name come from the names of my two cats… for some reason they just kinda fit the characters._**

 ** _Also, a character bio in case you guys wanted to know._**

 ** _Name: Jade Felu_**

 ** _Alias: The Jade Demon_**

 ** _Race: Faunus, Tiger (Trait: tiger tail)_**

 ** _Looks: Orange eyes, Dark green hair, lightly tanned skin_**

 ** _Aura: Unlocked, Average Strength_**

 ** _Semblance: Agility (improved flexibility, speed and acrobatic ability)_**

 ** _Weapon(s): Demon Talons (clawed gauntlets, dark green)_**

 ** _Personality: Flirty, Outgoing_**

 ** _Family: Amber Felu (older sister), Sapphire Felu (originally Sapphire Tear) (mother), Shiro Felu (father, deceased)_**

 ** _Also, yes, she's extremely outgoing, but she has her own story to explain that just like everyone else. Think of it as more of a defense mechanism than her actual personality…_**

 ** _4)_** **** ** _How long is he going to be in Menagerie?_**

 ** _Eh~ about two or three more chapters, possibly four. It's definitely important, and stuff that happens here will appear later, but I know a lot of people want me to get to the 'good part' of Beacon (specifically the Breach and Fall), so it'll be over relatively soon._**

 ** _5)_** **** ** _The explanation of his armor and scars_**

 ** _So, in Destiny, since it's a videogame, you never see your character's armor damaged in any way. Of course, thanks to the miracle of programmable matter (nicknamed 'Glimmer'), that can be explained away, but you still need time and resources to repair your gear, which you wouldn't have if, for example, you're fighting the physical embodiment of evil. As for the scars, in character customization (of Humans at least), one of the options is a blind eye with a scar over it. This wouldn't make much since, as the scar is quite clearly not one you would've been reborn with (since it would be an incredible disadvantage), therefore I made up some bullshit about Light cost for revival and trying to find shortcuts. So that's what that's about, after all there's no real reason to heal a small scar, but there is reason to fix a limb or three._**

 ** _That's probably enough explanation for now. If you have any other questions, just ask and I'll answer them either in a PM or the start of next chapter. Thanks for reading, and please review!_**

 ** _Signing off for now, AWDTB._**


	3. Chapter 3

**_A/N:_**

 ** _I'd like to go ahead and apologize to everyone for how late this chapter is. While writing it, I absolutely_** **hated** ** _it. I rewrote parts of it several times, tore some hair out, edited it thrice, and still don't like how it turned out. But, this is the best I can make it work for now, so here you go._**

 ** _Anyway, welcome to the third chapter of The Darkness Inside! I'd just like to take a second to thank everyone who reads this story. Only two chapters and already this much support, it really makes me feel warm inside. Hopefully I can live up to your expectations._**

 ** _Also, about Jaune's first Remnant weapon. As a Guardian, he's used to having several options he can switch between at will, for any range or situation. Here, however, he's limited almost exclusively to close range, which is a huge problem for him (in-game I'm experienced enough with Her Memory to use it at pulse rifle range, especially with Focused Fire, but it's not really meant to be used that way). He doesn't_** **need** ** _a sword at the moment (not saying he won't get one, but it's not really that high of a priority), so he's going to go for a mid- to long-range alternative first. Of course, he doesn't have any real clue about Huntsman weapons, he'll learn about that once he goes up against them in more than just an alley fight._**

 ** _I plan on him getting a few different alternatives. It'll earn him a few looks, but like I said he's used to being able to switch between multiple weapons, so he'll want as much variety as possible. In my experience, Guardians are less about 'one kick a thousand times' and more about 'a thousand kicks one time' (even when you get Exotics you switch between them constantly depending on what you're doing), and despite the quote, versatility is something to be feared just as much as experience and power are._**

 ** _Anyway, on to the disclaimer, and to the story beyond!_**

 ** _Disclaimer: I, of course, (do not) own absolutely everything you see here. In fact, I (do not) own RWBY and Destiny, along with anything mentioned from those sources. If you believe that, I am also extremely rich, and am most definitely not living in my mother's basement at the moment. Nope, no basement here. And I've got some oceanfront property in Arizona I'm looking to sell too._**

 ** _TO THE STORY!_**

 **{KUO KUANA, FELU RESIDENCE}  
{EVENING}**

"So…"

"So?"

"So why are you messing with your armor right now? It's not like you need to wear it in the middle of our living room. Besides, Mom's here, and as annoying as she is sometimes, she's definitely a great Huntress."

Again with the 'Huntress', I really need to set aside time to actually look up _exactly_ what they do. 'Defenders of Humanity' and 'Slayers of Grimm' are nice and self-explanatory, but it would be best to actually know the job description for what I plan to become. Oh, right, better answer Jade.

"With your clumsy self around, I might actually regret not wearing the armor soon enough," she looked away with a playful pout, mumbling something about 'stupid blondes', and I continued, "but no, it's just… I was asked by a friend to help him out with something, and it might involve Grimm, so I decided to be prepared."

"You're going against the Fang, aren't you?"

I sighed, not surprised she had figured it out. She saw me spying on them last night, after all. "That obvious, huh? Yeah, there's a small disagreement between us, something about me being human, and them being terrorists. So, since I'm already on their shit list, might as well stop a few operations while I'm at it."

"And why the armor? I mean sure, it's nice and heavy armor, but Aura would protect you all the same and without weighing you down, too."

"Yeah~…" I trailed off, trying to find a way to explain it. Did Huntsmen really not wear any armor, just relying on some weak overshield for defense? "But I prefer not dying, and if they just so happen to break my Aura, well, then I'm fucked unless I have another layer of defense. I can't do those ninja parkour moves you have, I'm much more of a tank-based fighter. I can take a lot of damage and dish out even more. The armor helps with the 'taking damage' part."

She shrugged, apparently not really caring about my choice of practical attire. "Hey man, whatever you're most comfortable in. If that's wearing a glorified tin can, well, you do you."

I felt a rush of irritation flow through me. This armor had seen me through over a year of fighting the Darkness, and she disrespects it just like that? This armor had likely seen more combat in a month than she had her entire life! I had to forcibly calm myself down, shooting her a glare that showed my annoyance.

"This 'glorified tin can' has saved my life more than once. The scars aren't there from before I unlocked my Aura, you know."

She had the grace to look embarrassed as she remembered the multitude of scars crossing my body, proving that _yes_ , armor was useful no matter what other powers you had. "Fine, fine, I get it, jeez. You're making me feel bad. Look, at least paint it black or something, that bright white doesn't help you at all."

I looked at my armor, the Queen's Web shader I had gotten from the Awoken Queen for defeating Skolas reminding me of yet another time in my life, and two more friends lost to the Darkness. Wow… it just hit me that pretty much everyone I knew was gone, including… Ghost. That's… depressing, really.

"I like my armor color though…"

Jade laughed, holding up the forearm of one of my gauntlets. The blue Chroma almost completely blended in with the bright coloring, more of a simple accent than a true glow. "Yeah, yeah, you Atlas fanboy. You do realize that using this will make the Fang think you're an Atlas Specialist, right?"

"And what's wrong with that? After all, they can't see my face through the helmet."

She gave me a look like she couldn't believe what just came out of my mouth. "Atlas only accepts humans to become Specialists."

"And?"

"You're literally the only human in Menagerie!" She yelled in exasperation, holding her head in her hands.

"Ah, whatever, it can't be that bad."

Me and my big mouth, right?

 **{KUO KUANA, SHIPPING DOCKS}**

 **{MIDNIGHT}**

 _Shit, this looks bad._

I was glaring at the bullet hole in my side, having just managed to hit the tight undersuit instead of the armor plating protecting my torso. I had decided to wear my armor just in case, despite Jade's warning, as I'd gotten tired of repeatedly getting attacked and hurt… But of course, the glow of my Chroma and Shader gave me away almost instantly. I guess I really should paint it later… if I survive this.

'This' being where I am now, a hole in my side and out of ammo for Her Memory. The Invective's glow was dim, showing I was out of ammo for it at the moment, and I had at least two dozen angry terrorists hunting me down. I was just lucky I had been able to duck behind cover before the majority of them were really able to start shooting, so I only came out with a few more dents instead of looking like a Thrall after a shotgun blast.

"We know you're there, human! Come out now and we might let you live!"

Oh don't give me that bullshit.

My attention was drawn away from my snarky thoughts and to the Invective as it glowed slightly, showing that it had regenerated shells. Let's see, I've got four rounds, and around twenty or so enemies… each of which takes at least a four-round blast to take out, thanks to their stupid 'Aura' crap. And it's not like I have Ghost to transform their rounds for me… Man, I'm kinda fucked aren't I?

Unless… No, I'm not using the Darkness, throw that thought away right now. But… if I don't I'll die here. No, _might_ die here. Not happening. But maybe…

I growled in annoyance and frustration, standing from my cover. I can't believe I'm actually doing this…

"Surrendering? Good choice. Unfortunately, we can't just let you-!"

I cut him off halfway, literally speaking. His top half fell to the ground, his lower body falling to its knees and finally over to the ground. I gave the spear in my hands a quick look, before turning to the rest of the Fang around me. They started to back away, surprise in their eyes as they saw their prey turn to predator. I almost let them, but…

 _They're murderers; animal scum. If you let them go now, who knows what they'll do? No one will even miss them…_ I knew the voice in my head wasn't mine, it was far too… persuasive, but I also didn't really care at the time. I stood there, veins flooded with dark tar, life force slowly draining from me… and I _enjoyed_ it, it felt like the most pleasurable thing imaginable.

I was conscious throughout the entire massacre, mouth torn open in crazed laughter as I cut through Faunus after Faunus, each kill only adding to the pleasure. I heard their screams of pain and terror as I pierced their arms and legs, heard the gurgles as their throats were slit, watched their lifeblood slowly leak out… and _laughed_ , like it was the funniest thing I had ever seen.

And when I ran out of life force, when I was barely hanging on to the mortal thread… the best way to describe it was climax. I felt every single ounce of pleasure the Darkness had given me climb to new heights, and even once it had been forced back down my body still twitched in pleasure. Even now, as I write this, I shudder when I remember the feeling, not from horror… but from excitement.

When the pleasure had finally left me, I collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. I simply lay there, limply, and that was where the police and the mayor found me around an hour later. Covered in blood, surrounded by corpses, and with a happy smile etched onto my face under my helmet.

 **{KUO KUANA, POLICE STATION}**

 **{HALF AN HOUR LATER}**

"You're telling me that all of that carnage, all that suffering… was caused by your Semblance?"

"Yes sir."

"Just how the absolute hell did you kill twenty-three White Fang operatives, all of whom were confirmed to have Aura, in less than three minutes?! We watched the video feed, you were pinned down, before all of a sudden, a light blue naginata appeared in your hands, and you started _laughing_ as you cut down twenty-three trained combatants with Aura. In less than _three minutes_."

He raised an eyebrow, and behind him I could see Ghira Belladonna look at me with something between pity and wariness. Understandable, given I'd just gone justifiably insane less than two hours before.

"My Semblance, it… I don't know what all it can do. I know it allows me to throw balls of energy that ignore Aura, it allows me to perform short-range teleports when I throw a punch… and it allows me to summon that spear. There may be more, there probably _is_ more, but… well, it's… addicting. Using it literally feels like using a drug. Even now, it's taking all I have not to give in to it, and even then I'm only able to hold the temptation back because I'm still half-dead now."

The two others in the room looked surprised at that last part. "Half-dead? You look tired, sure, but after that fight it's to be expected."

I chuckled, a pitiful, empty laugh more to distract me than anything else. "I told you my Semblance wasn't user-friendly, right? Well, not only is it like a drug, but it drains my life while using it, at least the spear. I haven't really experimented, especially since… well, you saw what happens."

"Has this happened before?"

"No sir. I've felt the addiction before, but… it's never taken me over like that."

They exchanged a glance, but I couldn't understand just what passed between them. After a time, the officer left the room, and the mayor sat down in front of me. "Jaune. Just what kind of personality did you have to get that kind of Semblance? I'm usually a good judge of character, and I didn't see a single _spec_ of what it would require to get a power like that within you. Just what happened, what were you doing when you unlocked your power?"

 _Fighting the physical embodiment of the Darkness_ , I mentally snarked, before the rest of what he said caught up to me. "Wait… what was that about personality? How would that affect how my Semblance manifested itself?"

"Well, it's not completely proven, but it's widely accepted that someone's personality can affect how their Semblance manifests itself. For instance, if someone was extremely shy, perhaps wishing to hide from those around them, their power might manifest itself as invisibility. Or if someone is extremely hotheaded and short-tempered, their power may be something to do with fire or physical enhancement," Ghira explained, "But for someone to gain a power such as yours… they'd need to be extremely self-destructive, perhaps afraid of themselves or their potential, with a tendency to lose themselves to their anger. Traits which you don't seem to have. In the short time I've known you, you seem to be protective, perhaps slightly depressed, and while crass at times, respectful to most you speak with. So, what caused you to have this type of Semblance, I wonder?"

… Damn, he's perceptive. We've talked a total of maybe four times and he's figured all this out? Might as well give him at least some of the truth, I suppose. "… This isn't my original Semblance."

The police officer gasped, as if shocked at the admission, while Ghira simply nodded. "I suspected as much. What was your original one, and what caused it to change?"

"… My original Semblance was the ability to use fire to do many of the same things I can now do, but in different ways. I could throw balls of flame, infuse my punches with heat, and even form constructs using my energy that I could throw."

The officer behind Ghira was vigorously taking notes, while the man in front of me simply nodded. "And what caused it to change? That seems to be almost the opposite of what you have now, fire instead of what you described as 'darkness'."

… I never really thought of it that way. Cleansing flame versus corrupting darkness, seems that the Sunbreaker was snuffed out by the Darkness. Huh, never would've thought Eris would be right, even if that's probably not how she meant it.

"I was fighting a… creature, you could say. Like a Grimm, of sorts, but… not."

Ghira cut me off suddenly, a look in his eye like he knew what I was about to say. "Officer, this is obviously quite personal to him. Would you mind stepping out for a minute? And have the observers turn off sound and recording in the room, perhaps that would help."

The officer looked like he was about to protest, but another look from Ghira shut him up and he left, presumably to talk to the observers. After a few moments, the mayor gestured for me to continue.

"My flames could barely scorch its body, and any time I attempted to use my constructs they were snuffed out the moment I tried. Eventually, I ran out of power, and my wounds caught up to me. I felt some vile, viscous liquid in my blood, suppressing my soul's flames, and had the absolutely _idiotic_ idea to utilize it. I was angry, scared, full of hatred at this thing, and this… _power_ reacted. I formed a construct, like I did with my flames, but it was… _wrong_. A spear instead of a warhammer, twisted and strangely organic instead of bulky and metallic, and emitting some strange wispy energy instead of roaring flames. And then, even as it seemed to drain the life from me, I threw it at the _monster_ in front of me. It hit its arm, doing more damage than any of my hammers did, but before I could continue, I collapsed, and woke up here." I decided to leave out the fact that I had been teleported, let them think I was attacked by some kind of insanely strong Grimm and rescued or left for dead and brought here by some traveler. Doesn't matter, so long as they don't think I'm absolutely insane.

I chanced a glance at Ghira, only to see him deep in thought. He seemed worried for some reason that I couldn't really pinpoint, his brows furrowed and his teeth clenched slightly. "Jaune… I need some time to think about this. If there really is a way to… to change someone's soul, corrupt it in such a way, even someone with a will as strong as you clearly have… We need to look into this far more than we have. Grimm are widely regarded as soulless, due to their inability to use Aura, but… from what you just told me, it's not that they're soulless, but that they have… negative souls? Or something like that. I… You're free to go for now Jaune, just please… don't lose yourself. Please."

Even knowing that part of my story was false, I felt that there was more to his request. But, either way, I promised both him and myself that I would do my best to stay on the 'straight and narrow'. It was enough of a problem when I just had to worry about being corrupted, but now… the sheer destruction and death I could cause by simply indulging in what amounted to my addiction was insane. I'd have to make absolutely sure to never lose myself to the Darkness again, and for that… I was going to need to practice.

 **{KUO KUANA, FELU RESIDENCE}**

 **{MIDDAY}**

"That was _you_?!"

I had to admit, Jade's mother could definitely be terrifying when she wanted to… in the same way that a Cabal Major was. I didn't get the 'space turtle' vibe, but the 'destroy planets just for being in the way' was definitely there, and this time, I was the planet (or small asteroid, really).

"Yes."

"And you expect me to let a murderer like you near my daughter again?! It was bad enough that you were a freelancer, but now you've gone and killed almost two dozen people! You humans are all the same!"

 _And now we get to the root of the issue,_ my sarcastic thoughts rang out even as my slight fear turned to indignation. "Oh _sure_ , I'm the bad guy because I'm human, huh? So the _twenty-three terrorists_ _shooting at me_ were just trying to give candy to babies, _right_? Don't make me fucking laugh. I've dealt with almost dying _twice_ today before _dawn_ , once from a bullet in the _damn stomach_ and the next from my own fucking Semblance trying to control me! If you don't want me around because I'm human, fine, but _fucking say it where your daughter can hear_. Don't try and hide the fact that you're a racist bigot behind some kind of motherly concern!" I roared, loosing myself for a second.

I had been attacked both verbally and physically ever since I had gotten here, simply because I was human, even though I hadn't done anything even _remotely_ racist, and I was sick of it. I was done sitting there and taking it, and that wasn't just the Darkness influencing me. Back in the Reef, I had barely stopped myself from punching one of the guards when she threatened to shoot my Ghost to 'rid the system of one more Earther'. I had verbally torn her a new one, of course, but it had taken all my restraint to not simply wreck her shit. And now this woman was defending the people who tried to kill me, while calling me the villain?

No, I didn't regret killing the Fang. They weren't my first, nor would they be my last. Everyone knows that casualties are a part of war, and fighting in general. The only regret I had was _butchering_ them, even if it was the fault of the Darkness. No one, no matter how bad, deserved to be cut limb from limb and left to bleed out, not even Oryx.

"Mom?"

Both of us turned to look at Jade, startled. I had challenged Sapphire to tell her daughter the truth, of course, but I didn't expect her to actually be listening in, or to even be in the house. The mother shot me a look before smiling at her daughter.

"Yes, sweetie?"

Jade didn't seem very happy at the moment, though I couldn't tell whether that was towards me or her mother. After all, she _had_ heard the conversation, we weren't exactly quiet about it, but I wasn't sure whose side she was on.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What do you mean? I'm not going to let this… murderer near-"

Jade cut her off almost instantly, voice full of enough steel to impress even Zavala. "Mom. Every night, I sit on the couch by the door, hoping for Amber to come home. Every day, I go to work, asking customers if they know where she might be. My free time is spent spying on the White Fang, on the off-chance they let slip some information about her. I call her scroll at least five times a day, even though she doesn't answer, and I pray to Oum every night that she comes home safe. We both know that she's out there, being forced to do things against her nature, all because of your beliefs on humans. She wanted to make you proud, make a difference, take the fight to the humans. And she did… and hated it. And now, here you are, acting like you couldn't give less of a _shit_ about your _own daughter_."

… Damn. That was… wow.

Stupid hormones.

"I… You're right, Jade. It's just… you don't remember what it was like before the Fang. It… My family could barely walk into the streets of Atlas without being attacked, and the few businesses that served us were constantly being attacked by racist civilians and huntsmen alike. I… I know the Fang is going down a dark path, even if I can't say I dislike the idea of Faunus getting even with humans. But you didn't see what that… monster did at the docks. The footage they released… he _butchered_ them, Jade, like they were below even animals compared to him. That type of person… there's no way I'd allow him near my family again, even if that was just his Semblance, there's too much of a chance that he'll do it again."

… Okay, that was understandable, far more than simple racism. It was only natural to be afraid of a monster, hell I'm terrified of myself too.

Jade started to argue back, and I made my way to the door, grabbing my gear and leaving. Sapphire had a point, there's no way I can endanger the people around me, I'd rather die before that happens. And so, I made plans then and there to stay away from anyone even remotely innocent, that way I would only risk hurting the worst of this world.

And what better way to make sure of that, than to join the criminal underworld?

 **{KUO KUANA; "RED LIGHT DISTRICT"}**

 **{ONE WEEK LATER}**

I sighed, ignoring another call from Jade as I punched yet another thug. I had spent the last week slowly making a name for myself in the underside of the city, working as a jack-of-all-trades. I had done things I wasn't exactly proud of, but I had drawn the line before I compromised my morals, so it was nothing I couldn't justify to myself.

I had, against my better judgement, been slowly tapping into the Darkness inside me. Small things, such as enhancing my strength or speed, or using the overshield for a short time, but it was starting to come easier and easier to me. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but I ignored my doubts, deciding to keep trying unless something like the docks happened again. The addiction, at least, was getting easier to control, so I had hopes that I could one day cut it out entirely.

One of the remaining thugs lunged at me with a sword, but I caught it on one gauntlet and shot him with the Invective. He flinched back, Aura shattered, and I landed a kick in his stomach, throwing him into another criminal. Both of them went down in a heap, and I had a moment to appreciate my work before bullets began to hit my overshield. I wrenched my body around, fighting against the inherent weight and thickness of my armor, and threw a grenade at the thug shooting me. He screamed, the ball of Darkness burning despite his Aura, and I used the distraction to slam the stock of my gun into his nose, breaking it and knocking him to the ground.

I looked around at the mess I had made, six criminals with various broken bones and bruises, and allowed myself a small sardonic chuckle. To think, I've gone from killing spawns of evil to beating up street thugs, talk about a demotion.

Turning away from the various unconscious men, I ignored yet another call, this time from Ghira. I had, of course, originally gone into the criminal underworld to test out my powers on people who deserved it, but then I found myself tangled in a web far bigger than I thought. With what I knew now, I absolutely could not allow myself to put anyone I cared about in danger until I destroyed this threat.

Huh. I never thought about it, but I _actually_ care about Jade and Ghira. Didn't think that'd happen in this world, me caring for someone.

Anyway, I had to put a stop to the plan I had found out about. Of course, it wasn't immediately dangerous, but it had the potential to be disastrous. The White Fang was apparently having a bit of a civil war at the moment, with the 'Supreme Leader Khan' on one side and someone else on the other. While personally I would happily pass by that bonfire without pouring any fuel on it, given my feelings for the White Fang, the opposing side was said to be even more militaristic than Khan was, so if their leader won, everything would go to shit.

So, not immediately dangerous, but definitely something to be careful about. I wouldn't have worried that much about it, if it wasn't for one simple detail.

Sienna Khan was coming to Menagerie, specifically Kuo Kuana, in order to talk to the previous leader of the Fang.

And this 'opposing side' planned to assassinate them both.

 **{KUO KUANA, SHIPPING DOCKS}**

 **{THREE DAYS LATER}**

It's been a while since I was last here, wasn't it? Over a week now. Feels like it was months ago that I went crazy and killed two dozen people here.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of a ship's horn, and I looked out to the ocean. I could barely make out the form of a large luxury yacht through the fog, as well as several people standing on its deck. After a few minutes of waiting, all of them walked onto the docks and began to make their way towards the town.

I lifted Her Memory off the ground where I left it, checking the magazine to see if it was loaded. I had heard back from the Dust shop owner a day ago, and got enough ammunition to fill up seven magazines. With each one having 36 rounds, I now had a nice 252 rounds to use against whatever might need to die in the immediate area. After all, I was protecting the leader of the Fang from the shadows, so it's not like I was going to be in shotgun range these next couple of days.

I quickly jumped onto the rooftop in front of me, using my Lift to parkour across the city in pursuit of my target. As tempting as it was to shoot her myself, and end the White Fang, I knew it was a stupid idea that would only make things worse on all fronts. Hence, me needing to protect the woman leading the world's largest terrorist organization.

And damn if that didn't sound like something from a pre-Collapse movie.

A band of mask-wearing people ahead caught my attention. They were just blatantly standing there, not trying to be sneaky at all, probably extremely arrogant and sure of their ability to kill Khan. I sighed, holding up my auto rifle and aiming it, firing at one of the Fang. The silencer I had invested in had definitely been a great idea, as the slow-firing shots quickly and silently tore through his shield and pierced his heart. He fell to the ground limply, and before his fellows could react I had already killed two more.

These Gravity Dust rounds are incredibly useful, almost double the punch of a normal round from this rifle. I'd definitely have to look into more of Remnant's tech, if it's all like this.

The last two Fang looked around, obviously terrified after three of their fellow faunus simply up and died, and I used their indecision to put a few rounds into one's head. The other one screamed in terror, attempting to run. Key word being 'attempting', as a few more rounds pierced through her Aura, blood blossoming from her still body.

I sighed, reloading my rifle. I had ended up using almost two full magazines against them, so now I had about four rounds and five magazines left. I didn't have Ghost to passively scan my weapon and upload the data to my HUD, in fact my HUD was now nothing but the camera view in front of me, so I had to keep an eye on not only my ammo but any enemies sneaking up on me.

Case in point, the woman who slammed her foot into my back.

I fell forwards, unable to catch myself before I faceplanted. I groaned in annoyance as I felt a pistol press against my helmet, a voice ringing out from behind me.

"Any last words, _Specialist_?"

The words were sarcastic, obviously, but I felt my infamous snark returning. "Yes, don't tell my mama that her _special boy_ kicked the ass of yet another woman today. She'd be so ashamed."

She snorted in amusement. "Seems like I'm the one kicking _your_ ass."

"Seems that way, doesn't it?"

And with that, I used my Darkness-enhanced strength to push up off the roof, slamming my head into her nose as I did. I spun around, smashing my palm into her wrist to knock away the pistol and grabbing her whip in my other hand. My leg came up to kick her side, and my free hand came around to crash into her cheek in a right hook.

She stumbled back, releasing her whip as she did, and I used the chance to throw it to the side and raise Her Memory. The last four rounds in the mag bounced off her Aura, each once making her visibly flinch. She instinctively held her arms up to stop any more bullets, and I crouched down, punching her in the stomach with all of my strength.

She _folded_ around my fist, and I could literally feel her insides slosh around for a second as she lost her lunch. I leaned to the side, avoiding it, and threw an elbow into her face, hitting her nose once again and throwing her head backwards. She fell to the ground, unable to stand anymore, and I placed my foot on her chest, taking the Invective off my magnetic back plate and aiming it directly at her head.

"And what does it seem like now?"

She was obviously unable to answer, and so I shrugged, looking her over for the first time since the fight began. She was dark-skinned and freckled, that much I could see even with her mask, and her hair was somewhat short compared to some of the women I had seen around Kuo Kuana, more like a Guardian ponytail really. Her build was slim, obviously built for agility and speed, but her Aura was able to tank more hits than most others I had fought. After all, I (mostly) hadn't held back when hitting her.

"So, you part of those trying to kill Khan, or one of her bodyguards?"

I honestly didn't know, after all it wasn't like I could see her guards very well through the fog, and I definitely couldn't keep an eye on her group while killing the ambushers. Her answer would determine her fate, however. The fact that she was a teenager was irrelevant, I couldn't allow her to run back to her boss and tell them about me. If she worked for Khan, that'd be okay, the only reason I was hiding in the shadows was the fact that they would shoot me on sight since I looked Atlesian.

"I… what… do you… mean…?" she managed to gasp out, my hits having managed to knock the air out of her so hard she could barely breathe. I felt a bit guilty for that, but crushed that guilt with the fact that she was a terrorist.

"I _mean_ , that there's a group of people trying to kill Sienna Khan, and they're part of the White Fang. I'm asking which side you're on."

The look of genuine surprise in her eyes convinced me that she, at least, wasn't informed of whatever was going on, and so was at least innocent of that. I couldn't understand the feeling in my chest, like I would regret killing her. I had just gunned down a group of unaware and terrified men and women, but the idea of killing a teenage terrorist made me stop and think for a minute. Heh, Zavala would say I'm going soft, and Cayde… he'd probably say something extremely inappropriate so let's ignore that.

I sighed, deciding to simply let her go, since she obviously wasn't a willing part of the plot to take over the Fang. That way, I wouldn't have to find out whether my battered soul could take killing a young girl for nothing but guesswork.

"Look, never mind. What's your name, girl?"

Her chest rising and falling slowly as she began to catch her breath, she spoke.

"Ilia… Ilia Amitola…"

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _Answers time!_**

 ** _1)_** **** ** _Insanity_**

 ** _So, the Darkness. I've already explained that it's addictive, and as this is the first time he's ever really used its full power… well, he lost control. As time goes on and he's forced to use it more, he'll get more used to it, but for now he's justifiably terrified of himself. Of course, as a Guardian, he knows that even if he never uses it, it could still take him over, so he's slowly attempting to conquer it in order to keep it under control. Time will tell how effective that is, but he's trying at least._**

 ** _As a side note, remember how I mentioned 'talent nodes' for his abilities? He can't consciously earn them or change them, but they can change based on him. For instance, the first talent node for his 'Liege of Darkness' super is 'Strength of Anger', basically giving him increased damage at the cost of sanity while his Super is active. Bit of a spoiler, the next is 'Benefit of Patience', I'll let you guess what it does. He hasn't unlocked anything else (imagine it as, in the actual game, he started out the same way you start with Sunbreaker, Stormcaller, or Nightstalker), but he will soon._**

 ** _2)_** **** ** _Semblances and personalities_**

 ** _Pretty sure this is at least 70% canon at this point. Maybe. I might need to check again. But either way, in my story it's basically the 'Aura is the soul, and Semblances are personalities' theory. It makes sense, with all the magic bullshit that's going on in RWBY now, and it has a nice synergy with Destiny's Light powers._**

 ** _3)_** **** ** _Sunbreaker_**

 ** _I know, I know, Jaune seems like more of a Defender or Striker, but I couldn't help myself. Personally, despite how much I love Defender, I still like using Sunbreaker, and I couldn't pass up the symbolism of holy flames being snuffed out by the dark. Of course, I've also made our hero here a lot more poetic than he has any right to be (he's a Titan, where's the 'Titan Smash' mindset?) but I feel like Sunbreakers were modeled after the Templars/Crusaders, at least a bit, with Osiris being their 'leader'/'priest' before Destiny 2 rolled around, and I like the idea of such a devoted individual being forced to question their long-standing beliefs. Imagine if one of the Knights Templar found out he was half-Muslim or something, that's kind of the idea here. So yeah, basically that's it, along with the fact that fire fits his personality that I have planned, it'll show more when he quits moping over stuff._**

 ** _4)_** **** ** _Ghira's reaction to the story_**

 ** _So, I'm sure you were wondering why Ghira sent the officer away with such a flimsy excuse, and why he reacted how he did. Well, tell me what you think of when you hear 'Grimm but not"? Salem, right (or something from a different fanfiction I guess)? Especially when you hear about a 'vile, viscous liquid' like the kind in Grimm spawn pools. In my story, since Menagerie doesn't really have a big figure that we know of besides Ghira and technically Sienna Khan, and because Ghira wants true peace between humans and Faunus, he's part of the Ozluminati. After all, if you heard that there was a monolithic embodiment of evil after you, wouldn't you want to make peace between everyone so you can all band together against it? Therefore, he knows about Salem, and now thinks that our hero was attacked by her. So basically, yay he bought it, but uh-oh Ozpin's gonna find out soon. One step forward, right off a cliff._**

 ** _5)_** **** ** _"_** ** _Mood swings"_**

 ** _Okay, so, I've said that Jaune is_** **technically** ** _twenty, but is biologically seventeen thanks to decreased aging. Well, now that he doesn't have the Light to help suppress irrational emotions, and in fact has the Darkness to make it worse. Therefore, not only is he being hit with hormones for the first time since he was revived, but they're also more powerful than normal. Imagine it as being hit with about four years of hormones on steroids at once, while you're at suicidal levels of depression. It's like that. So that's why his emotions keep making U-turns, he literally can't control himself at times when feeling strong emotions (such as having gotten out of a stressful situation, learned something terrible about himself, and basically being told that his life was worth less than a bunch of terrorists, and then your totally-platonic friend who you have no attraction to whatsoever stands up to her mother for you). It'll eventually start leveling out, but for now his moods are going to make as much sense as my writing does._**

 ** _6)_** **** ** _Romance_**

 ** _Continuing on the tail-end of the last explanation and answering a review all at once, the kinda/not really romance between Jaune and Jade (if anyone thinks of a ship name for that I will personally display it in the next author's note). The romance may or may not actually happen, there might not even be any romance in this story at all, it'll all depend on what the readers think. I will go ahead and say_** **NO HAREM AT ALL** ** _, there may be a bit of competition between love interests or something but absolutely no polyamory because I can't write that even close to accurately, I can barely do normal relationships seeing as how my own experience is nonexistent._**

 ** _7)_** **** ** _The 'coup'_**

 ** _So, in the show, Adam Taurus's betrayal of Sienna Khan was not only rushed, but kinda out of the blue. He walked up to her, she bitched for a minute, then he killed her. End of story. Thing is, you don't just say 'lol I'm gonna take over' one night and then kill your leader the next morning, it takes_** **planning** ** _, months of it too. And so, in this story at least, he's been planning this for a bit, and is starting to take action. As for Khan coming to talk to Ghira, well, it's said that she respects him, therefore they must be on at least somewhat good terms, despite her way of leading the Fang. So, meeting with him isn't too far of a stretch._**

 ** _8)_** **** ** _Protecting Khan_**

 ** _Pretty sure I explained that with his thoughts, but Jaune thinks it would be an ultimately_** **idiotic** ** _idea. Pretty sure I don't even have to explain why he thinks it's stupid, because she'd just be martyred and used for a reason to go more militaristic. And letting someone more violent take over is literally just begging for trouble. So, he's going with the lesser evil and just keeping her from dying for now. As for Ilia, well, her side will be revealed next chapter._**

 ** _Okay! Answers over, hope I answered everything. Thanks so much for reading, and please leave a Review! It helps me know what you guys are looking for, whether you like the way I'm taking the story or hate it, I listen to all your opinions! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll be back with more in a couple weeks!_**

 ** _This is AWDTB, signing off!_**


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N:_**

 ** _Welcome to the fourth chapter of The Darkness Inside! (So much for two weeks at most, huh?) Luckily for everyone here, this is the last chapter of the 'Menagerie Arc'. Unfortunately, it's a bit short thanks to my limited time and seeming hatred of everything I write, but it's here, and hopefully you'll like it (at least a little). It'll probably be a month or so until the next chapter, but I'll try to make it a bit longer, in order to set up for Beacon. It'll have a lot of timeskips, so that I can get to the actual story and be done with the filler._**

 ** _Remember last chapter, when I asked for a ship name for Jaune and Jade? Well, a reviewer by the name of MidKnightMoonglow99 (I love the name, by the way) submitted several of them, but the one that stood out to me was 'Jaded Knight'. In retrospect, I probably should've thought of that, but my naming sense is nonexistent. Anyway, that name won, since I like all of the different things it can represent. That's all I wanted to say, just felt like I should give a shoutout to the winner._**

 ** _On to the disclaimer!_**

 ** _DISCLAIMER: "Hello, my fellow reasonable lizardmen. I would just like to inform you that I did not intend to steal the rights of RWBY and Destiny from their respective owners, and that it was all my readers' faults for making me continue to write. So, I believe I am not guilty, and in fact tell you that you should prosecute my readers instead. Thank you." (Excerpt from the trial of "Apply Water Directly to Burn", who was declared criminally insane later that day)_**

 **{KUO KUANA, INNER CITY}**

 **{NEAR MIDNIGHT}**

I followed Khan and her entourage into the city, silently taking out any groups of ambushers I could see. It took another three magazines, but I got them all, making sure the White Fang leader's journey was as smooth as possible. After all, I had some… 'questions' to ask her, and she would likely be more willing to meet with me if she felt she had power over me.

Of course, if she wasn't cooperative, then she'd be more fearful of me when I beat her at her full power. Win-win, really.

I had left the chameleon girl, Ilia, tied up on the roof I had fought her on. I knocked her out, of course, and hid her well, but there was no way I was going to just let her go until I was able to ascertain her intentions. Just because my moral compass wouldn't let me kill her didn't mean my practicality and paranoia would let me let a potential threat go on a whim.

My train of thought was derailed when Khan stopped in front of Ghira's house, knocking on his door. A few moments later, it opened, revealing a woman that was most likely the mayor's wife, who ushered them inside before looking around fearfully outside for a moment. Her eyes landed on me for a moment, and when I waved some of the tension visibly left her. She sent me a grateful look before closing the door behind her.

I waited a few moments, just enough to make sure my guns were loaded, before using my Lift to jump off the roof and land unharmed. Quickly making my way across the street, I ducked beneath the windowsill in a classic breaching position, listening to the conversation inside and readying myself in case I needed to act to protect Ghira and his wife.

"Hello, Khan."

"Ghira, please. I know you don't agree with my methods, but that doesn't mean that all the time we spent together is meaningless now."

"Funny, seeing as how the girl I practically raised in the Fang was the one who changed it for the worse. But nevermind that, what do you want? We both know you never come over just to chat."

"Yes… I hear word that one of my Fang is attempting a coup. There's no real evidence outside of the circumstantial, but it seems to point to Adam Taurus. You know him well I'm sure."

Ghira's next words were dripping with contempt. "Yes, the boy you encouraged my daughter to date. Oh, don't give me that look, we both know what you did, and you know I haven't forgiven you for it. But, back to the issue at hand, what exactly makes you think he's attempting to take over? It's not like his ideals are any different than yours."

"The problem is that they are, he's grown from the sweet boy who was practically a little brother for me into a man whose first and last resort are murder and torture. He's trying to take over, citing some bullshit about how I'm growing soft, and once he does… Atlas is already trying their best to flush out the Fang, torturing Faunus in the mines and causing Grimm attacks in Faunus villages, but if Adam takes over, they may just declare war on Menagerie in its entirety."

I had to stifle the growl that wanted to escape me. Sure, I didn't exactly care for the majority of Menagerie (in fact, I saw most of them as shallow hypocrites), but a war would threaten the few I did care about, and that was unacceptable. I'd kill Adam myself if I had to, dismantle the Fang one cell at a time until it was a pitiful shadow of itself, and then tear Atlas down to its foundations-

Shaking my head to get rid of the thoughts, I sighed. I had become fairly good at telling which thoughts were completely mine and which were influenced by the Darkness, but sometimes the line became blurred. Whenever I was feeling strong emotions, the influence was covered up by my own anger or sadness, which made it hard to tell whether I truly meant what I thought.

Tuning back into the conversation, I just barely managed to catch the end of Ghira's response.

"… killed countless people, burned down countless villages while you slaughtered their inhabitants, _allowed your followers to rape and torture innocent humans for fun_! And you expect _me_ to help you, to ally myself with the _abomination_ you made my White Fang into?! It was meant to be a symbol of peace, of equality, not of weakly-justified racism! I want no part of your glorified bandit tribe, Sienna Khan, and you would be wise to leave. _Now_."

She sighed, and I slowly peeked over the windowsill just in time to see her draw a bladed staff from her back. "So be it. Your death will revitalize the Fang, old friend. It is an honor to die for that which you believe in."

The look on Ghira's face could be described as pure rage and betrayal, while his wife showed fear and disappointment. That was all I saw before vaulting through the window, blasting Khan with the Invective before she could react.

She fell back with a shout of surprise, while her guards roared in rage and attacked me as a group. I gave the three men just enough time to get within range of their melee weapons, before ducking under the mass-produced swords each had and blasting the first in the chest. He managed to stay standing despite his stumble, but I was on him before he could recover, slamming a fist into his face before kicking him in the groin.

I heard a quiet shattering sound, likely his Aura, and turned to the next man just in time to catch a sword strike to the helmet. My overshield took it without any issue, and I gave the man a punch in the sternum for his troubles. He stumbled back, wheezing from getting the air knocked out of him, and I fired the last two Invective shots into him. His Aura shattered, allowing me to turn to the final man.

He was charging at me while bellowing a war cry, which gave me enough warning to sidestep his pitiful slash and grab his arm. I drove my free palm into his elbow, forcing it backwards and breaking it. He screamed in pain, falling to his knees, and I used the opportunity to kick him in the head, knocking him unconscious.

I regained my balance from the kick just in time to catch a blow to the back, actually throwing me forward into a wall and breaking my overshield. When my ears stopped ringing, I quickly rolled out of the way of another strike, dodging it and the follow-up by a few inches. I slid a shell into the Invective as I stood from my crouch, blasting the woman as she leapt at me again. The shot managed to knock her off course just enough to allow me to dodge, and I dropped the shotgun, slipping Her Memory off my back and aiming down the sights at her.

Khan had just enough time to hold her staff in front of her before I pulled the trigger, launching off Gravity Dust rounds that packed far more punch than most others just like them due to the Focused Fire perk I had upgraded the auto rifle with. Each shot caused her to visibly flinch, and I walked closer as I fired. By the time the mag was empty, I was within range of my Blink Strike, which I took full advantage of by teleporting in front of her and punching her in the face hard enough to throw her head back.

I didn't let her recover, punching her again in the stomach as her arms reached up to protect her face. As she bent over from the pain in her abdomen, I grabbed her staff, holding it like a bat before slamming it into the side of her head as hard as I could. The sound of Aura shattering filled the room as the momentum from my strike continued, knocking her into a wall. Her body went limp, but when I checked her neck I felt a pulse, so she was just unconscious.

Sighing, I turned to look at the room around me, seeing the two broken walls, the wooden table that had been reduced to splinters, and the various bullet holes littering the room. "… Whoops."

As if that word had reminded the Belladonnas that I existed, both of them turned to look at me. I stood there awkwardly, unsure of just how they were going to react (sure, I saved them, but I also destroyed their living room). After a few seconds, Ghira laughed loudly before hugging me.

"Jaune! Where have you been, and where did you learn to fight like that?"

Let me make one thing clear: in all of my second life, I hadn't truly experienced any 'hugs' or other means of affection. Sure, I'd had friendly bro-hugs or fist-bumps, but never any that actually felt like I was being hugged by a parent or significant other. At that moment, I understood exactly why so many of the Guardians who had their memories missed their families so much, and I allowed a tear to escape my eye.

"I was… well, that doesn't matter right now. What's important is that you two are okay. You didn't get hurt in the crossfire right?" I had only been on this planet for less than half a month, but I still felt indebted to Ghira, and by extension his family, due to him being the first person to help me and act truly friendly. I can honestly say that, if it wasn't for him, I would've likely been killed by the Fang or been starving in an alley right now.

"We're fine, you took out Khan and her goons before they could do anything. Speaking of, how did you know they would be here tonight?"

"Heard a rumor about a possible split in the Fang, decided to check it out a bit. Found out about Khan's visit here, as well as the ambushes Taurus's faction had planned. I waited at the docks for her to arrive, then followed her here and took out any hostiles I could see. Once your wife let her inside, I hid near the window to listen in, and when I heard Khan threaten you I acted. Sorry about the damage, sir."

He chuckled, tightening the hug once more before releasing me. "Oh, Jaune. It's just a few holes in the wall and an old table, we can repair that easily. Our lives are much harder to replace, and thanks to you we won't have to worry about that. If there's anything we can do for you, anything at all, just ask."

I was about to wave the debt off, after all it was only fair that I saved him after he saved me, but a thought entered my mind. The long-ranged combat I had engaged in tonight while taking out the enemy Fang had been hell on my ammo reserves, especially since neither of my weapons were really meant for anything beyond close range. Maybe it was time to see exactly what this world had to offer, especially if a simple staff strike could break my shields.

"Actually, would you mind if I had a weapon made? The ones I have aren't really as versatile as I'm used to."

His eyes lit up, the excitement shining in them easily driving back the lingering fear. "Of course! What kind were you thinking? I'll fund the materials and pay the smith as long as you supply the blueprint."

"I was thinking a military-grade designated marksman rifle, with a variable-zoom scope and an extended barrel add-on. Would that be doable?"

He looked somewhat surprised. "Just that? Of course, it could be made easily, but what type of alternate mode would you want? Surely you don't want just a basic gun, right?"

Wait, what? How is a heavily customized military-grade rifle a 'basic' gun? That's like saying a hand cannon is just a sidearm! "What do you mean?"

"You know, like the weapons Huntsmen use. Take Khan's staff for example," he gestured for the staff and I handed it over, curious, "If you press this button here, and twist this section like that…"

He performed a few quick adjustments, and suddenly he was holding what looked like two bladed sticks, one in each hand. The exposed hilts clearly held Fire Dust crystals, and there were grooves along the blades where the Dust effects could cover the weapon. "See? Almost every Huntsman's weapon has at least two modes, usually a ranged and melee, though of course there are exceptions. So, what kind of alternate mode are you thinking of adding?"

… Huh. That sounds both incredibly cool and impossibly impractical. Sure, you'd effectively have two weapons in one frame, but maintenance would be a bitch and there was a much higher chance of mechanisms jamming or smaller parts cracking or breaking on impacts. But still, I could easily just have the secondary mode slightly improve upon the primary, like a scout rifle becoming a sniper.

"… I have an idea, I'll have to draw up a blueprint for it. What time would you need it done by?"

"If you could just draw up a quick rough draft of both modes, as well as how it'll change, by next week then the smith should be able to finish it in less than a month from today. It all depends on how complicated your weapon is, really."

"I'll do that. Thanks again, Ghira. There's no way I can repay you for everything you've done for me."

"In my opinion, after what you just did, I think you already have. For now, I'll contact the police and have them arrest Khan and her men. You should visit Jade, she's been sick with worry ever since you left," at this, he gave me a sly look, "Quite a fine young woman you have there, don't let her slip through your fingers boy."

I sighed, ignoring the tingling in my chest. "She's just a friend, Ghira. Please stop insinuating things."

He gave me a knowing look before nodding and changing the subject. "Kali, dear, could you get Officer Jenkins on the phone? Tell him we need him and his boys to pick up a few terrorists for questioning."

His wife nodded, her expression still showing some shock, and she left. Ghira turned to me, his expression far more serious than before. "This schism in the Fang… how bad is it? Will it affect my daughter?"

"If she's with Taurus… it's likely. Even if she agrees with the Fang's methods, which you told me she doesn't, Adam's methods are another matter entirely. Rumor around the Underground says he's killed more Schnee employees in the last few months than the Fang has in the last two years. He also apparently has no qualms sacrificing Faunus mine workers just to get a crack at the SDC. All in the name of his 'glorious revolution'. At this point, it's almost guaranteed that your daughter will either leave or get sent on suicide missions until she doesn't come back."

I didn't sugarcoat it, no father wanted to be lied to about the danger their daughter was in. Ghira bowed his head in sadness, before looking me in the eye. "Can you help her?"

My answer came without hesitation. "As it is, no. I'm underequipped, low on ammo, and have no idea where she might be besides somewhere in the Kingdom of Vale."

"What do you think you would need to find her?"

Realizing he was completely serious, I gave him an honest answer. "Not including weaponry, I need transportation to Vale, along with some form of identification or passport. I'll also need some way to track down and contact your daughter, likely a scroll number or GPS signal. While not strictly necessary, an apartment or other kind of shelter would be appreciated, and if you have any contacts there I'd like to meet with them in order to see what they know and maybe get some more info on Vale."

"Done. I'll have your new weapon, along with the things you've requested, finished within a week. Will you be ready to move out by then?"

It was at this moment that I realized how crazy this was. I had been in this world less than a month, but here I was, having just saved the mayor's life, and he was now asking me to find his terrorist daughter and bring her home. Honestly, it was like a terrible movie plot, but… "I will. I promise, Ghira, I _will_ find your daughter. No matter how long it takes."

He slumped in relief. "Thank you. Thank you so much Jaune. If there's anything at all I can do for you, just let me know."

"You don't owe me anything Ghira. After all, you've helped me out far more than I have you."

He chuckled, giving me a tight bear-hug. "Let's just agree to disagree, son."

 **{KUO KUANA; DOCKS}**

 **{SIX DAYS LATER}**

I stood in front of the cruise ship, all of my belongings packed into the suitcases next to me. My old backpack had unfortunately been torn open earlier, finally falling apart after carrying my heavy armor for so long, so now I had three brand-new suitcases: one for armor, one for weapons, and one for my clothes.

I had gotten my new weapon earlier that morning, and just looking at it I could see the exquisite craftsmanship. I had gone with my original idea of a scout/sniper rifle hybrid, with the barrel being able to extend and the gun able to accept both normal and heavy caliber rounds. The magazine was held at the back of the rifle in a bullpup design, to help keep it compact, while the sniper used a bolt-action design and held one round at a time. While limiting, it helped to keep the gun at a reasonable size, which allowed me to carry it almost anywhere I wished if I strapped it over my shoulder.

The reason I was here in the evening instead of earlier, however, was because of the cosmetics on my gun. The gunsmith actually would not give me the weapon until I both customized it and named it, and I had given up on changing his mind after a few tries. So now I had the newly-christened "Mercury Lance" slung across my shoulder. I had to admit though, despite the pointlessness of customizing a weapon, I enjoyed the look of it.

I had designed the blueprint itself to look similar to a Vex Line Rifle, albeit less alien and more practical with the bullpup magazine connected to the stock, so the gun itself had two barrels. The bullets fired from between them, and they were lined with Lightning Dust so that I could charge up a magnetic field to, basically, make a railgun when I needed it. The gun itself was gunmetal grey, with the barrels being a midnight black. The top rail had a pair of built-in iron sights, but there was a scope off to the side of the gun that could fold up onto the rail for long-range shots. On the left side, right under the bolt-action, there was an all-white engraving of what was apparently my new emblem: A four-pointed star with a circle in the middle, representing my Ghost.

Out of all three of my weapons, this was definitely my favorite. It wasn't just my newest gun, but it was one I had designed and customized myself. It felt less like a tool and more like a partner, which was what truly sold me on the whole 'custom Huntsmen weapons' idea. If all of them made their own weapons, that would explain why so many of them were just as iconic as their owners.

I was knocked out of my thoughts, quite literally in fact, by someone running into me. Due to being completely unprepared, I lost my balance and we both tumbled down onto the docks. The back of my head hit the ground, and if it wasn't for my now-constant overshield then I might have actually cracked my skull.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry sir… Wait, Jaune?!"

I lifted my head off the ground just enough to see who ran into me, before letting it fall back down with a sigh. "Before you start-"

"Before _I_ start?! I wasn't the one who left without a word! Where have you been, what have you been doing?!"

I'm sure my fellow passengers were getting quite a show: a young man with a Huntsman weapon, being yelled at by a teenage girl sitting on his chest. "Look, Jade, I couldn't exactly stay around with your mother-"

"Oh, that's another thing! She's been insufferable, doing nothing besides complaining about how she was 'clearly right about your intentions'. Seriously, I've had to deal with her for weeks!"

"Yes, and I'm sorry for that, but if you'd let me explain-"

"Not to mention that I haven't been able to spy on the Fang since they were on high alert, something I'm sure _you_ had _absolutely nothing_ to do with!"

"Would you shut up and listen?!" she leaned back away from me, startled, and I sighed, "Thank you. Now, the reason I wasn't around was because I needed to learn how to control my Semblance. After all, I had just killed over twenty people while under its influence, so I needed to make sure it wouldn't happen around someone I cared about, okay?"

Now that she had calmed, Jade realized our position, as well as the people around us. Unfortunately for me, I had forgotten just exactly how her mind worked, and she made sure to remind me.

"Is that a scroll in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

I threw my head back and groaned in a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance. Of _fucking_ course she would pull something like this, especially in public. "I highly doubt anyone would be _that_ happy to see you yell at them, Jade."

Thankfully my thoughts were still on the topic of what I would say to her questions, or else she'd have never let me live it down.

She pouted, crossing her arms and finally getting off my chest. I used my newfound freedom to stand, stretching out and popping the kinks out of my back. "Jeez, girl, did you have to try and break my spine?"

"Oh please, like you have any backbone after running away. Did you really think that I would abandon you just because your Semblance is weird?"

"When it makes me a homicidal maniac, yeah, I did think that. Your mother sure did, along with almost everyone I've seen who knows what I did. You and Ghira, along with his wife, are the only ones who actually care about me in any way."

A sad look crossed her face, some form of sympathy and pity that somehow made me feel better rather than annoyed me. "Look… I'm sorry for what Mom did, I really am, but you don't need to leave town just because she doesn't like you. Come on back with me, I'll talk to her for you."

I couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Oh, I'm not leaving because of her. Sure, it was kind of depressing at the time, but I got over it after a while of beating up the Fang." Wait a minute… that chameleon girl, I left her on the roof didn't I? Well shit, it's been a week so hopefully she got out okay… damn I really need to make a list of all the crap I need to remember…

"Aha! I knew you were the one they were mad about!" she crowed, clearly happy about being right, before frowning, "Wait a minute. If you got over everything, why are you leaving?"

"Well, Ghira asked me to do something for him, and I couldn't exactly refuse, you know? So now I'm off to Vale, might go to Beacon while I'm there if I can get in."

She looked from me to my gun a few times, before snorting. "Yeah, you'll get in. I've seen you fight, with and without your Semblance. With it, you're an unstoppable beast, but without it you fight like a soldier, you've got that 'military precision' think down to a science, Jaune." A frown crossed her face, before she continued, voice subdued, "I can see you're going to leave no matter what I say, but… at least keep in touch, okay?"

"Don't worry Jade, I've got your scroll number. You'll be able to talk with me whenever you want… as long as I'm not busy or anything. Besides, I'll be back again whenever I get a break down there, so it's not like this'll be the last time we see each other. Go out, get some friends, have a good time, and I'll be back before you know it."

Honestly, this entire situation was strange to me. After all, in the Tower, most people were friendly but none really formed close attachments due to the fear that they would lose even more people than they already had. The only thing I could really compare it to was an old, long-forgotten memory of one of my sisters -or maybe my mother- tearfully kissing me goodbye as I left to go… somewhere. The vague bits I could remember were nothing but gold hair, kind eyes, and familial love, which was more than most Guardians got when they revived.

"Jaune… I'm not going to kiss you or anything, we're not like that, but… don't die, okay? If you die, I won't be able to kiss you in the future." With that, she turned around and left, giggling a bit as she did.

I sighed, shaking my head in amusement. This girl, always with the jokes… wait a minute. "Kiss me in the future?!" I yelled out in shock, which sent her into hysterics as she turned the corner and left my sight.

"Son, are you getting on the boat or not? Seriously, you kids these days…"

I turned to look at the person who spoke, and saw a large number of people standing on the ship, clearly impatient, and realized I had been holding them all up. "Ah, sorry, yeah…"

Great way to start out a voyage, I know.

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _So, here's this chapter done. Hope you all enjoyed that, especially since next chapter will detail all of his fun times in Vale. Not much else to say, so onward to the explanations!_**

 ** _1)_** **** ** _Leaving Ilia tied up_**

 ** _Well, as was already stated last chapter, he didn't really feel like killing a teenage girl who wasn't involved in the coup. Sure, she was a terrorist, but he didn't know the extent of her crimes (remember that, despite the Fang's actions, they're much more subdued with Khan than with Adam, and Jaune's only seen Khan's work and a few of Adam's agents). He also felt uncomfortable with the idea of just shooting a teenager who debatably looked innocent (seriously Ilia seems more kitten mad than 'burn all the humans' mad when she isn't being depressed or yelling at Blake about her love or whatever). So, therefore, just leave her tied up on a roof somewhere (and yes, she was found and let loose by another Fang member)._**

 ** _2)_** **** ** _Khan attacking Ghira_**

 ** _So, when you're a fanatic cultist/terrorist, and someone disagrees with your ideals, you kill them. Especially if they, as the previous leader, had enough say to sway popular opinion out of your favor. So, you kill them, frame the enemy of your faction, and the martyr makes your cause more enthusiastic and more hateful towards your enemy, while getting rid of the threat to your power. Win-win really, unless there's a Deus Ex Machina in the form of a main character around…_**

 ** _3)_** **** ** _Khan getting beaten_**

 ** _So, we never see Khan fight in RWBY. She sits on a throne, scolds Taurus, and gets stabbed. Basically she's a disposable character. So, if she got taken out by Adam that easily, there's no way she was a fully-trained Huntress of any kind. But then again this is RWBY and everyone has to have some level of training to defend themselves from Grimm if they don't live in the Kingdoms (excluding Vacuo cause apparently that place is the Wild West on steroids), so she got a weapon I thought suited her along with some training, but she wasn't skilled enough to beat a Guardian with three years of experience, the element of surprise, and superior range and CQC capabilities._**

 ** _She'll break out of jail soon though, don't worry._**

 ** _4)_** **** ** _Ghira asking Jaune to find his daughter_**

 ** _So, after everything that's happened, along with Jaune saving Ghira's life, he sees him as a bit of a son of sorts. Therefore, he trusts him far more than any random Faunus on the street, especially since he doesn't really know which ones are in the Fang or not. So, simple solution is to ask the person who you trust, who is also capable of defending himself, and isn't afraid of the Fang (and can't be in the Fang due to him being a human) to find your daughter._**

 ** _Spoiler alert, Jaune won't find her before Beacon, but once Initiation starts everything will go down quite a bit differently. Especially the part where she runs away later on…_**

 ** _5)_** **** ** _The Mercury Lance_**

 ** _I'm actually really proud of this. Basically, Jaune's biggest weakness is his lack of ranged capabilities farther than mid-range. Therefore, I gave him a scout-rifle-slash-sniper combo that he can use for anything from mid- to long-range. The railgun is more of an experimental, one-shot-one-kill weapon that he slapped on for the LOLs to use against anything heavily-armored. Basically it's my Chekov's Gun for this story._**

 ** _6)_** **** ** _Jade's comment(s)_**

 ** _So, I've already established that Jade has a dirty sense of humor (honestly I'm basing her off one of my friends and she's hilarious). However, she is starting to possibly develop feelings for Jaune. As she said, they're not like that, but she might want to date him in the future. Time will tell whether that happens, but right now he's interested her, and is pretty much the only one who treats her normally (It hasn't been shown due to this being a first-person POV but most people Jade knows treat her like an immature child due to her fixation on finding her sister, and the lengths she goes through, while her mother is a racist and she can't stand listening to the woman who forced her sister onto the path of the Fang. So yah, Jaune's the only person around who she actually cares for)._**

 ** _7)_** **** ** _MY SLOW UPDATES_**

 ** _Yeah, I apologize for that. My school has started back up, and it's hard to squeeze out a chapter in-between tests, essays, and homework (along with learning how to code using some of the advanced portions of Java's GUI), so updates are going to be extremely slow. I honestly can't promise anything resembling a deadline for my next chapter, but hopefully it'll be out before the end of the year._**

 ** _Anyways that's it guys, I'll see ya when I see ya. Don't forget to leave a review about what you liked or didn't like (along with any constructive criticisms), and tell me what you want to see next!_**

 ** _Until next time, this is AWDTB, signing off._**


End file.
